Formerly Feckless Fifteen
by DayDreaminDeb
Summary: Stephanie wants to change her life, but not too much. There's much to figure out and several books to do it in. Rated MA for language, adult situations...in the future, and all that jazz. I hope you all enjoy it. Some Babe, no Cake...we'll see.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

My name is Stephanie Plum and I'm a Fugitive Apprehension Agent for my sleazy cousin Vinnie's bond agency. In simple words I'm a bounty hunter. I'm on the wrong side of thirty, I'm single…sorta, and I have a family that is completely insane.

The truth of the matter is that I'm pretty much on the insane side too. Naturally I think I'm saner than my sister Valerie who has taken to calling her husband baby names, although Albert Kloughn does seem to inspire that. I'm definitely saner than Grandma Mazur. I've never taken a crowbar to funeral…just in case it was closed casket. I think I'm saner than my mother who tipples from bottles stashed all over the house and gets a bad case of panic ironing. My father ignores 357 Magnums, 6'6" tall cross dressers, and little people at the dining room table…honestly does that sound sane to you? I didn't think so. Anyway in my mind I'm the sanest of the bunch. Sadly, each of them probably feels the same way about his or her self. Sigh.

Add to my misery the fact that there are two very different men in my life. There are really three if you count Diesel and I don't. One of them wants to marry me and keep me barefoot and pregnant till I'm 50. The other one wants too… Well, I'm not sure exactly what he wants, but I'm pretty sure it would make me blush if I knew.

Oh and did I mention that I'm not a really good bounty hunter? Get it straight now…I ain't no Dog! I'm lucky. I have pretty good hunches. I know my town, especially my neighborhood. I have a decent spidey sense, but my entourage does not include highly trained apprehension agents. Instead I have a former ho named Lula who is, in her words, a large beautiful black woman, a 6'6" cross dressing rock star wanna be, occasionally I have the former big singing star Brenda (yea, that Brenda), and my Grandma.

And one more thing if I'm going to apprehend one of my felons there's a really good chance that the process will include garbage or some other form of stink, a car that is demolished in some way (and it won't necessarily be mine), a fire of some sort (it may be a car combining two things), an embarrassing anecdote or twenty that may someday make my memoir, breaking and entering (not necessarily by me…sigh), bets by the local police (including the man who wants to marry me and keep me knocked up), and the rescue of my person by one of the two men in my life usually the one who can make me blush.

Oh and I also have a crappy apartment in a building that hasn't been updated in decades inhabited by twenty senior citizens, me and my hamster Rex. A three year old child could probably pick my locks and disarm my security system. I haven't actually seen it happen, but so far anyone who has tried has been successful. I have about three pieces of furniture per room and only one television. I also have a VCR…not a DVD player. But that's okay since I only have **Ghostbusters** on VHS.

I also have a cookie jar that doesn't contain cookies but instead my gun. My real gun of course. I do usually have my stun gun in my purse. It's not usually charged, but hey…I'm trying. I have peanut butter, pickles, and olives in my cabinets. In my refrigerator is a six pack of beer and leftovers from dinner at my parent's house. Right now my rent is paid as well as my utilities, my credit card bill is up to date and I have fifty-seven dollars and forty-six cents in my bank account after I go to the garage today. Yea…I'm on my way to being a totally self sufficient and responsible adult. Sigh.

At the moment I do have a car. At the moment I'm not driving Uncle Sandor's bullet proof Buick. At the moment I'm driving a fairly new and in decent shape Toyota Rav4. It gets good gas mileage and in this economy it's working for me. My father isn't all that happy about it since it's not an American car, but he'll get over it.

There is one more thing that anyone who is going to be around me should know and be aware of. I attract stalkers like flowers attract bees. It's creepy. It doesn't seem as though I can go a month or two without having one on me. It's the bane of my existence. They're always breaking into my apartment and leaving me presents. They're not usually the kind of present you'd want for Christmas though. And they follow me, oh and they usually try to kill me. It's not really a good time for me and it doesn't do much for those two guys I was telling you about.

I may as well tell you about them now. You'll find out soon enough anyway. The first one is Joe Morelli. I've known Joe all my life. He grew up in the Burg not too far from me. He's a couple of years older than I am. He's my sister Valerie's age. His entire family has a bad reputation. I don't mean mob reputation, in Trenton that's standard. No, they have the tendency to be useless, hard drinking, wife beating, non- job having fools. Joe has done better than most of his family. He's their shining star. He's a cop. He's a detective for the Trenton Police Department and he's pretty good at it. He's also hot in that Italian Greek God sort of way. He attracts all the single straight women in Trenton and a good deal of the married ones. He's over six feet with brown hair and brown eyes. He's chiseled. He's got a body that is to die for. And I'm not the only person in the world who thinks he may very well have the best ass in Trenton if not the world. He also taught me how to play Choo-Choo when I was in kindergarten. Oh and he took my virginity on the floor behind the counter of the Tasty Pastry when I was sixteen and scrawled it on walls all over the place. But then, I did run over him in Uncle Sandor's Buick when I was eighteen. It all evens out. We've been off and on for a while now since he became my first apprehension. Sometimes he's a good boyfriend. Sometimes he's not a good boyfriend. Lately he hasn't been so good. But that's the way it goes. Sigh.

The other guy is Ricardo Carlos Manoso otherwise known as Ranger. When I first started working for Vinnie, his number one girl Connie who is also my sister's age asked him to show me the ropes. He says he's my Professor Higgins. I'm his Eliza Doolittle. The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plains. Yea…that's about all I've learned so far and retained. Ranger got his name from the…you guessed it the Rangers. He's ex-military. I say he's ex-military, but I'm not really so sure about that. Every now and then he just disappears for a few months at a time. I think maybe **ex**-military may be a stretch. The thing is…Ranger is hot. I mean he's HAWT!! He's over six feet with black silky hair and black eyes. Okay they're brown, but when he looks at me they're black more than brown. It makes me shiver just to think about it. He's got a body with no soft spots. I know…I've seen the whole thing and there's nothing soft about it. NOTHING!! Sigh. I work for Ranger sometimes doing distraction jobs or research for various things he's got going on. I think he throws me these bones to keep me solvent. I appreciate it. Right now he's in the wind. That's Ranger speak for out of town in deep cover.

This morning when I woke up I knew that I had to get to work. I wasn't scheduled to be at Rangeman so I had to go to Vinnie's and see if there was anything for me. It meant that I could wear jeans, but it meant I'd probably have to do some serious laundry later on. But a girl has to eat and I can't mooch off my parents forever. For God's sake I'm over thirty.

The other thing is that while I do have a car, it's technically in the shop right now. That means that I have to either borrow Big Blue or depend upon the kindness of strangers. Today, I have decided on the kindness of strangers. I called Lula, who may not be my best friend but is certainly in the top five.

I took a hot shower while the coffee brewed. I pulled on jeans and a tee shirt. I wanted to wear shorts because Trenton in late May was hot and humid, but I knew if I had to apprehend someone shorts meant more cuts and scrapes. I also wanted to cut all my hair off so it wouldn't end up frizzed up all over my head, but I didn't do that either. I pulled my unruly mop of curls up on my head into a pony tail and applied a small amount of mascara to my lashes. I didn't have anyone to impress today. Joe was being an ass and Ranger was out of town.

I drank my first cup of coffee and tossed some Hamster pellets and a grape into Rex's cage. It was nice and clean in there since I'd cleaned it out the night before. I was feeling like a good hamster mommy and greeted Rex cheerfully when he raced out of his soup can and stuffed the grape in his cheek and hurried back into his soup can. Rex didn't reply to my cheerful good morning. Rex is really more the strong silent type. He's a lot like Ranger.

When Lula got to my place, everybody knew it. Lula really knows how to make an entrance. She doesn't just knock or ring the doorbell. She calls out to you while she's doing it. "Yo…white girl. Are you in there? Are you ready to go? I'm getting hungry. We need to stop by McDonalds or the Tasty Pastry or something on the way to get your car."

I sighed and opened the door with a smile that froze when I saw her in yellow spandex. "Good morning Lula."

"Are you ready to go?"

"I'm ready," I agreed and went to get my purse.

She stood in my living room frowning.

"What's wrong," I asked.

"You have a small apartment," she announced.

No shit Sherlock. "Er…yea, I know."

"But what's really wrong with it is that there's no Feng Shui."

"Feng Shui," I struggled to follow her. I could feel my eye starting to twitch.

"Right, Feng Shui," she repeated. "It's the way your crib works to make you feel good while you're in it."

"Lula, if there's a TV, a bed, a bathroom and a refrigerator I'm good," I sighed.

"Girl, we could make this place hum with Feng Shui. Well, maybe not a whole lot of Feng Shui since you got no windows in here, but it could be better."

"Well right now, I need my car," I said struggling for patience.

"Right, but we have to go to McDonalds first," she stressed to me. "I am not going to make it through this day without a couple of Egg McMuffins and some hash browns. I am not kidding about this girl."

"I know that you're not," I said grabbing my cup of coffee off the counter and following her out the door.

We went through the McDonald's drive through and Lula stocked up with enough grease and fat to make it through the day. I declined to order. I didn't even order a cinnamon bowl. That's not like me. She drove me to the garage to get my car and left.

I drove to the bonds office after a quick stop at the Tasty Pastry for a dozen donuts to bribe Connie and to eat for breakfast myself. So far I'd had two of the Boston crèmes and for some reason it wasn't sitting well in my stomach. I was almost completely awake and alert now though. I debated eating another of the Boston Crèmes, but I had not had such an easy time buttoning my jeans that morning. I told myself it was to arm me against my day if I ate another. But there was this voice in the back of my head saying 'that stuff will kill you Babe.' I growled at Ranger to get out of my head.

In spite of my morning décor advice from Lula and much to my surprise considering the argument Joe and I'd had on Saturday night I was in a pretty good mood. I was in a good mood and pretty much feeling that I could conquer the world even though my jeans were too tight and my bank account was low. I mean nothing was late. That's good, right?

When I arrived at the agency, Lula was bending over the filing cabinet in her glow in the dark yellow spandex dress that, at that very moment, didn't even cover the matching thong under it. I shuddered and put the donuts on Connie's desk. For some reason my appetite was now completely gone. The Ranger in my head had won that round.

"You're a life saver," Connie moaned biting into a crueler.

"You're welcome," I flopped onto the beat up leather sofa. "Do you have anything for me?"

"Oh my God," Lula groaned as she bit into a chocolate covered donut. "I need another two dozen of those to make it through the morning."

I laughed, "You had McDonalds."

"That mess just made me mad," she frowned. "I'm a big beautiful black woman and my man likes me round and squishy."

"Well, you may be on your own for the rest of the donuts girl. I'm poor."

"Oh hell, I know that," she said rummaging through the files on top of the filing cabinet. "You work for Vinnie, don't you?"

"I am certainly trying to," I agreed. "Well Connie, what do you have?"

"I only have one thing and you're not ready for it," she shook her head.

"Oh come on," I raised a brow.

"It's big," she said seriously. "Ranger will kill me if I give it to you."

"Ranger is in the wind," I reminded her.

She sighed, "You have a point there. Fine! The name is Manuel Forturo. He's really from Vegas. He was a drug runner out of Mexico, but now…"

"I know who he is," I blinked. "He's the head of the Forturo Crime family. He's big time."

"That man is going to boil you in oil if you give her that file," Lula warned Connie.

"He's in the wind," she shrugged. "If he was here it wouldn't be an issue, would it?"

"He's gonna be mad," she shook her head and took another donut to the filing cabinet with her. "I wouldn't like to see Batman really mad. There have to bodies out there that nobody knows about."

This was a sobering thought. Connie and I mulled it over.

"Give me the file," I finally put my hand out.

"Yea well, Stephanie is here and he isn't," she said lightly as she put the file in my hand. "And if we lose this money, we lose big."

"He's…he's big time crime Connie," I said thoughtfully.

"Yep," she nodded, "and he's big time bond."

"How big," I bit my lip.

"He's three million. That means if you apprehended him you'd get…"

"Three hundred thousand dollars," I swallowed.

"But…you know he's out of your league."

"You know, what could it hurt if I do some research? I'm gonna take the file. Ranger is out of town. I'll probably bring it back. But let me just look into it."

She nodded.

"What's Vinnie doing with a bond this big," I raised a brow.

"He had some pressure from DePrisi," she said softly.

"Angelo DePrisi," I blinked. DePrisi was a known mob boss. He wasn't just known in Trenton. The feds knew him.

"Yea, don't ask me why because I don't have a clue."

"Thanks Connie," I nodded and left the office heading for the library to get some information.

I spent the whole afternoon searching for information on the Forturo Crime family and for Angelo DePrisi. I was sure that there had to be a connection. But the internet turned up nothing. I was working at Rangeman the next day doing researches. I figured I'd just use the databases they had to do more research then. What could it hurt? I was just gathering information. It's not like I was going to actually do the job myself. That would be ridiculous. Yea, it would.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

I spent the night alone without as much as a phone call from Joe. I got up the next morning and headed over to Rangeman without donuts. Donuts at Rangeman were considered contraband and would be confiscated if found. I always wondered what they did with the donuts. There was a part of me that had a secret hope that Tank and Ranger would sit in their offices and eat them and moan in ecstasy. But that probably wasn't going to happen.

I grabbed a power bar and a banana to go with my cup of coffee and settled down at my desk to work on the pile of research. Most of the research was for Rodriquez. I really had to get to know this guy. He was a pain in my ass. By lunch my pile was pretty much depleted. I grabbed a turkey sandwich from the break room and a bottle of water and some grapes and went back to my desk to do some research on Forturo. I didn't get much more than what I already had. This was only his second arrest on the east coast.

I found out a lot more about Angelo DePrisi. He was a pretty typical mob boss for Trenton. Most of his money came from gambling and loan sharking. He had one conviction on Federal Charges for the IRS. He had been caught evading taxes. That's what most mob bosses actually got caught for if and when they got caught. He had no interest in drugs or the money that could be made from them. Like most old school mobsters, he thought drugs were bad. He kept his family under wraps and if the feds knew anything about him or his family they were helping keep that information under wraps also.

I shut that down and checked my email as I finished my lunch. There was no mail from Joe. I'm sure that he thought I needed time to cool off. The thing was, I wasn't really mad. I was tired. I had a feeling that was worse.

Tank, Ranger's right hand, sat on the corner of my desk and crossed his arms.

"Yes Tank," I raised a brow at him with a slight smile. Tank is called Tank for a reason. He greatly resembles a brick wall. I've walked into him a couple of times and I think I broke my nose once. Hey, it swelled. He's a big solid guy. He's also Lula's main squeeze. Who knew big muscular men loved women with more cushion for the pushing? This world is a constant surprise. I mean, maybe he helps Lula with her Feng Shui. Anything is possible.

"I know you're still working for Vinnie, but do you think there's any way you could give us another day or two here? Right now you're only working Tuesday and Thursday, but if you could add another day or two I'd appreciate it. If you'd come to work full time, I'd be ecstatic."

"Full time," I frowned.

"I mean Monday through Friday," he agreed. "I'm not asking for nights and weekends. I don't mean that I want to put you in the rotation. Business is really picking up and I need another researcher and you're the fastest and most thorough one we've got."

I bit my lip thoughtfully. On one hand this would be a regular paycheck and I wouldn't have to worry so much about whether doing apprehensions would keep Rex in Hamster pellets. On the other hand, it would definitely take away a lot of my freedom. Being a good hamster mommy won out though in the long run. "Okay Tank, I'll do it," I agreed.

"Thanks," he nodded. He handed me an envelope, "these are your new terms. There's no need to sign anything, you're sort of covered. But your benefits do go up."

"Do I have to spend time in the gym or the gun range," I sighed.

"Yes…you know the rules," he sighed even louder.

"What if I agree to two days a week for an hour at the gym and 1 day a week for an hour at the range?"

He looked surprised, "that easy?"

I shrugged, "it couldn't hurt."

"It couldn't hurt," he agreed and hurried away before I changed my mind. I could see the wheels turning in his head. I had agreed to that way too easy.

In truth, I was thinking that if I really intended to go after Forturo I needed to get some practice in on the range. I needed to really carry my gun. I needed to get into better shape. My pants needed to fit. I needed to be able to run. I needed to start wearing my Kevlar…I needed a frickin' miracle.

At the end of the day, I packed up my things and put my left over grapes into my bag. Rex would be delirious to have them. I opened the envelope to review the conditions of my full time employment and found that I'd agreed to just what the contract requested. There was a hefty raise making my life much more comfortable and there was a sign on bonus…again. Ranger did love those sign on bonuses.

I went to the bank and deposited my check. I went to the grocery store and loaded up on all the things I needed and some of the things I wanted. I skipped the cake and the cookies and the ice cream, but I didn't know why. As I went by it just didn't look so good. How weird was that?

I went home and unpacked my groceries and put them away and started cleaning my apartment and did my laundry. I made myself a salad and a piece of fish for dinner. I gazed at the piece of mahi-mahi for a few moments and frowned. I was channeling Ranger again! I growled at Ranger to get out of my head again. Finally I shrugged and ate the fish and enjoyed it. I even enjoyed the salad. I sat on the couch studying the file on Forturo and looked for anything out of the ordinary.

Forturo hadn't been arrested in Trenton on drug charges. This time he'd been arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. The person he'd allegedly conspired to kill was Alfonse Giordano. Alfonse was the modern mafia who didn't mind dealing drugs. But from what I knew Alfonse was strictly an east coast guy. It gave me no clue as to why Forturo would want him wacked.

Forturo had been arrested for outstanding parking tickets in the distant past. There had been ten of them. He had been in Trenton long enough to acquire ten parking tickets several years ago. That was weird. I made a note of the dates he was in town according to the tickets and headed back to the library and the newspaper's microfiche. Maybe something was happening then that could be linked.

Hours later I was empty handed. I headed home and nixed a stop for some Ben & Jerry's. I frowned at that as I walked up the stairs. I had given up cake and Ben & Jerry's in one day. This really was annoying. If I wasn't going to be seeing Joe, it was going to become really annoying. It was only a matter of time before my shower massager wasn't enough. Realistically though, I'd gone years without a man in my life between The Dick, as I affectionately referred to my ex-husband, and Joe.

I thought I was doing the right thing marrying The Dick. He was an attorney. I was pretty successful at the time. It was the Burg thing to do. My mother was delirious with glee. We bought a house. We bought a dining room table. I came home from work early one night and he was bumping uglies with my arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt on my brand new dining room table. Hell, we hadn't even broken it in yet and he was schtupping the Barnhardt. I was angry. I was very angry. Ya know, I think I'm still angry. Some things are just hard to get over.

Anyway, I could go a long time without a man. I knew that for a fact. It's just that once you've had a few good social orgasms, it's hard to think about doing without them long term. I sighed. Maybe it was time I did think about doing without. Joe wanted a commitment and I wasn't willing to give him one. Were we at different places in our lives or were we just not right for each other in the long run? Maybe it takes more than loving someone to spend happy ever after with them.

I plopped on the sofa and gazed sightlessly at the television, it was too damn late for me to be having these philosophical thoughts. First I am not angry with him for being an ass. Second I'm somewhat apathetic about whether or not he calls or emails. And third, I'm wondering if it's really in the cards at all.

I took a deep breath and hauled myself up off the couch. Instead of waxing philosophical, I needed to be getting to bed. I had to work tomorrow.

I was just changing into shorts and a tee shirt when my cell phone rang. "Hello," I sighed.

"Do you want him?"

"I beg your pardon," I blinked.

"Do you want Forturo?"

"Er…yea," I said concentrating on the voice. It was obviously disguised.

"If you want Forturo, now is your chance. Go to Michigan Avenue. He's at 424. Go in the back door. All of your Bounty hunter dreams are about to come true."

"Okay," I nodded as the caller hung up with a click.

I sank down on the side of the bed. I could go after Forturo. Whoever gave me the tip seemed to think I could do it alone. I took a deep breath and put my black cargos on. I put on a black tank top and my Kevlar vest. I covered both with a large black tee shirt with Rangeman on my left breast. I wasn't working for Rangeman or Ranger, but it gave me an odd sense of confidence. I loaded my gun and put the safety on and filled the cargo pockets with more ammunition. I grabbed a few of the zip tie hand cuffs that I'd recently purchased and my stun gun and pepper spray. Once I was fully loaded, I grabbed the folder and headed for Michigan Avenue wondering if I should call my parents and say goodbye.

I drove to Michigan and thought about it. It could be a trap. But it could be something else. Ranger and Joe would both kick my ass for not taking back-up in with me. I decided to call the cop shop and give them a heads up.

I went to the back door and found that it wasn't alarmed. I crept through the house and heard male voices. I took my gun out and released the safety (I know, it's like something inside me just clicked) and pushed the door open. Manual Forturo was standing in front of the fireplace with his brother Ramon. Their two highest level generals were sitting on the sofa. I trained my gun on Manual and knew I was probably dead.

"Oh fuck," Ramon sighed.

"Ramon…don't you know who this is? This is Stephanie Plum, the bombshell bounty hunter of Trenton. You're famous chica."

"Oh goody," I sighed. "Please don't do anything stupid. The police are coming already. I know you hear the sirens. It's not like you can escape."

"True," Manuel nodded.

Ramon drew his gun and shot the generals and then dropped the gun. I just stood there blinking.

"If I'm going down anyway," he shrugged.

"Good thinking," Manuel nodded.

The two men turned around and let me cuff them and I checked the generals. They were deader than doornails. I called dispatch to tell them I needed a meat wagon big enough for two bodies and leaned on the side of the desk with my gun on them.

"You think you were famous before, you're going to be huge now," Manuel grinned. "I mean you just picked up the Forturo crime family."

"Yea," I said in bemusement, "this is a day in history."

"How'd you find us," he asked as the cops came through the front door.

"Anonymous tip," I said softly.

"Really," he said quietly as his eyes narrowed. "Was it a man or woman?"

"Disguised voice," I said quickly and stepped back so the cops could do their jobs. I saw the look on Manuel's face. He had been betrayed. This was not good.

My friend Eddie Gazarra, who had the misfortune of being married to my cousin Shirley-the-whiner, blinked at me as the Forturo brothers were taken out of the building. "Is this your handiwork," he waved toward the dead generals.

"Oh no, that is courtesy of Ramon. He said that if he was going down anyway…"

"Oh damn," he blinked. "Steph…this is big time."

"I am aware of that."

"You shouldn't have come alone."

"I called you guys first," I said defensively.

"You entered the building without us."

"I'm the one with the right," I raised a brow, "remember?"

"I remember," he sighed. "Joe's gonna be mad."

"Joe who," I rolled my eyes.

"Oh damn," he groaned.

Joe Morelli chose that moment to come running into the building. "What in the hell were you thinking? You could have been killed."

"I was doing my job," I said quietly.

"This is fucking stupid Stephanie. This is not Mooner. This was a real criminal."

"And I handled it," I said even more quietly. "And I didn't even break a nail."

He swore at me for a while longer and I finally couldn't take it anymore. "Officer Morelli, is this your crime scene?"

He blinked at me in shock.

"Is it your crime scene?"

"No," he bit out.

"Then leave," I said seriously. "I don't believe we have anything to say to each other."

"We have a lot to say to each other," he barked.

"No, **we** don't," I said softly. "If you can't speak to me in a civilized manner, we have nothing to say. If you decide you can speak to me in a civilized manner, you know where to find me. Please leave."

He started to say something else but turned on his heel to leave as the guys from the crime scene unit arrived.

I turned to Eddie, "I am assuming that you're going to need a statement from me?"

"Er…yea," he nodded.

"Then if you don't mind, I'm going to find the detective in charge of this investigation and do my civic duty."

"Oh yea, sure Steph," he agreed.

On my way out I ran into Tank and Lester. "It's fine guys. I'm fine. Don't worry about it. I even had my gun."

Tank blinked at me in astonishment. "Are you sure Steph?"

"I'm A-Okay. I didn't even break a sweat."

"Holy shit," Lester said wide-eyed.

"Well…let us know if you need anything," Tank nodded and left the scene.

I found the detective and gave a brief statement. He told me that he had to go over the evidence and he'd get in touch with me about a more thorough statement in the morning. I could pick up my body receipts at the cop shop.

"Receipts," I blinked at him.

"Yea," he nodded absently studying his open pad. "All four were wanted."

"Oh," I nodded.

I went to the station and picked up the four body receipts and headed home. When I went inside, Ranger was lounging on my couch. "Hey," I said and dropped beside him on the couch with my bottle of water. "Have you been back long?"

"Babe…you got Manuel Forturo?"

"Yep," I agreed taking a drink of my water. "I also got Ramon and their two top generals. The two top generals unfortunately didn't survive the take down. Not by me though, even though I did have my gun and it was loaded and I had on my vest," I tapped my chest, "and I had extra ammo. Ramon shot them right in front of me and then dropped his gun so I could handcuff him.

"You went without back-up."

"I called the cops first," I shrugged.

"You should have called Tank."

I sighed, "Ranger…"

"It was stupid to go in without back-up, but you did a good job," he said quietly. "Please don't do that again though. I don't even go in without back-up."

I sighed, "Okay."

"Manuel is a big ticket item," he raised a brow at me.

"Yep," I grinned. "I may actually be solvent. "Plus the other three," I tossed the receipts at him.

"Yea…this could be close to the one million mark for you."

"What," I blinked at him.

"Yea, Manuel is 300K, Ramon is 150K and the underbosses are 100K each. You had a good night."

I blinked, "Er…yea. I guess I did."

"Tank said you just started working for us full time. Does this mean you're going to quit?"

"Uh…no," I shook my head. "It means I may invest in a place away from here…or something."

"A place with better locks would be good."

"They still wouldn't stop you," I raised a brow.

He just grinned.

"Are you here to sleep or just checking up on me," I asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I have to work tomorrow and I have to go to bed now."

"I'll see you at work tomorrow. Lock up behind me," he said seriously.

"I know," I rolled my eyes.

He opened the door to see Morelli standing in the hall.

"Did you put her up to this," Joe said antagonistically.

"Don't do it Joe," I said quietly.

"She could have been killed."

Ranger cocked a brow at me. It could have meant anything. Am I your keeper? Who died and left him in charge? He's kidding right? Do you want me to kill him? Do you want to handle this yourself? What the fuck? Honestly, it could have meant any of those things.

I sighed, "Thanks for coming by Ranger. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Babe," he nodded and went down the stairs.

"It was the Forturos Stephanie," Joe ground out.

"I am aware of that," I said quietly.

"You could have been killed."

"I wasn't," I said softly.

"You could have been," he insisted.

"Would that make it easier for you Joe?"

"What," he blinked at me in shock.

"If I was killed or maimed or whatever, would it make it easier for you? If I died would your life be better? Would it give you less to worry about? Would your blood pressure go back to normal?"

"Don't be stupid," he hissed.

"It appears that almost everything I do is stupid in your eyes," I said softly. "I don't need a boyfriend who is constantly telling me how useless I am. I need a boyfriend who is supportive. I need a boyfriend who believes in me. I need a boyfriend who isn't constantly pressuring me to change myself. I don't believe that's you. Do you?"

He blinked at me, "I'm not trying to change you Steph."

"Are you trying to get me to quit my job?"

"Your job is going to get you killed," he growled.

"Is it my choice or yours? I haven't asked you to give up your job and it's just as dangerous if not more so."

"That's different."

"Why?"

"Well…I am a man and…"

"Oh no, you didn't," I glared at him. "Okay Joe, let's make this easy on both of us. We're done. Nothing you did. Nothing I did. We just don't work. Have a nice life."

"But…"

"Goodbye Joe," I walked into my apartment and shut the door behind me. I leaned against it for a few minutes till I heard him walk away. I waited for the tears to come and they didn't. What was going on with me? I wasn't crying my heart out because I just sent my last chance at a normal life packing. I had issues.

I changed for bed with a sigh. Maybe I was growing up. Maybe not, I grinned to myself noting that the gun was back in the cookie jar. Maybe I still had some maturing to do.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

Sorry it took so long. I'll move faster now.

* * *

When I went into work at Rangeman the guys were looking at me a little oddly. I don't know why. I was on time. I was carrying coffee and some fruit. I was concentrating on my notes. I murmured good morning to anyone I passed and gave a small finger wave around my coffee. I was feeling pretty good.

I tackled the pile of paperwork on my desk and by the time it was time for me to go to the gun range I had made a pretty good dent in the stack. I grabbed my bag and started to get up just as Tank appeared at my desk claiming a corner for himself.

"Good morning Tank," I said cheerfully.

"Good morning," he nodded. "Good job last night."

"Thanks," I beamed.

"But…"

"Don't do it again without backup," I finished for him.

"Right," he nodded. "I'm going to Vinnie's and Marco's to pick up some paperwork. Do you want me to drop off your receipts and collect your money for you?"

"You don't mind," I blinked up at him.

"Not at all," he said with a rare Tank smile. "I'll even deposit it for you if you like."

"That would be great," I said reaching for my purse.

"Don't bother. You're direct deposit with Rangeman. I've got your information. Where are you headed?"

"The gun range," I said with a smile.

"Have fun," he said scooting off the desk.

"I intend to," I said heading off to the range.

I spent my hour with Hector and for the first time I was really paying attention. "Hector…do I need a gun this big? I'm thinking that if I had a smaller gun it would work better for me."

He grinned at me, "si."

I shrugged.

"Babe if you wanted a smaller gun all you had to do was say so," Ranger said from where he leaned in the doorway watching me.

"I bother you too much," I shrugged. "I'll buy a smaller gun."

"What kind," he asked.

"I don't know," I sighed.

"How about you let me take you to buy a new gun then," he suggested.

"Are you sure you're not too busy?"

"I'll make time. How about tonight after work? I'll pick you up about seven."

"Sure," I nodded.

"And we'll celebrate your capture over dinner?"

"Sure," I smiled.

"Pinos," he raised a brow.

"Can we go somewhere else?"

He blinked in surprise, "how about Martins?"

"The seafood place," I smiled.

"Yea," he agreed.

"That sounds perfect," I agreed.

"Okay, I'll see you at seven," he nodded and walked away.

"Are we done here Hector," I asked before I put the gun up.

"Si…you do very good today," he nodded happily.

"Thank you," I grinned and put the gun up.

I finished my work for the day and went home to change. I took a shower and put on a lightweight navy and white skirt with a white silk sleeveless tee shirt. I decided to forgo the FMPs and went instead with a pair of navy sandals. I studied my reflection in the mirror. I put a single coat of mascara on and some lip gloss. I didn't look Jersey when I was finished. I looked completely different. I found that I didn't really care. I wasn't really trying to impress anyone. Nobody knew that Joe and I were over but Joe and I unless he was telling people. I was just over the whole thing.

I grabbed my bag with my gun in it and walked into the living room just as the locks tumbled and Ranger walked in.

"Oh you're ready," he blinked in surprise.

"Yea," I agreed. "They do trades?"

"Yea," he nodded.

"I cleaned it," I said grabbing my other bag that matched my shoes. "Shall we go?"

"Er…yea," he agreed.

We didn't talk on the way to the gun store. The radio was on and a light, soft jazz filled the SUV. It was mellow. I was feeling pretty mellow and Ranger was clearly in the zone. I didn't fill the need to fill the empty spaces with chatter. That was new. But if we had to do a stakeout I'm not sure I'd fare so well.

At the gun store I ended up with a Berretta 92 SB compact. It was smaller than my other gun. It fit easily into the back of my skirt. It was comfortable. It had a bigger clip than my previous gun. I was much lighter in weight. I pursed my lips thoughtfully, "and it has good stopping power?"

"Er…sure," he man nodded and glanced over at Ranger in question. "I mean it's not as good as a magnum as far as stopping power goes, but it will get the job done."

I nodded and turned to Ranger, "it feels good in my hand. It will be easier for me to handle. I think it will work."

He nodded, "it's a good choice."

"Okay," I turned back to the shop keeper. "I'll take it. I also need a new cleaning kit, about ten boxes of ammo and a case. Also…do you have any shoulder holsters?"

He blinked in surprise, "Er…yea."

Ranger led me over to another part of the store and helped me fit myself with the right shoulder holster. "Why do you want a shoulder holster Babe?"

"I think it's a better idea than the back of my pants."

"It is," he agreed.

I left the store satisfied with my purchases. "I'm going to apply for a license to carry concealed."

"Good idea," he nodded. "Get Tank to help you with that tomorrow. We've got all the forms on hand."

"Great," I nodded. "Thank you for your help in there."

"I didn't do much," he flashed me one of his 200 watt grins. "You knew what you wanted."

"Well…I knew what I didn't want," I smiled.

The restaurant was full when we arrived and people were clearly waiting for tables. We walked to the podium and seconds later we were being seated against the window in the far corner of the room. I looked around the restaurant in curiosity. There were quite a few famous mob personalities in the restaurant. We were pretty much surrounded. They were looking at us with curiosity as well. I thought they were even looking at me in particular.

"You're a celebrity now," Ranger said from behind his menu.

"How is that," I raised a brow as I opened my own.

"You brought in the Forturos," he reminded me.

"Oh that," I sighed. "I don't know why it's such a big deal. You do that kind of thing all the time."

"Babe," he said and I could hear the humor in his voice.

"I'm not useless Ranger," I said sadly.

He reached for my hand and waited for me to meet his serious brown eyes. "I never thought you were."

I sighed, "A lot of people seem to think so."

"I'm not a lot of people," he said quietly.

I looked up at him and smiled, "thank you. But you were right. I should have taken back up with me. I won't make that mistake again."

"Thank you," he said gently.

The waiter brought a bottle of wine for us and Ranger did the sniffing thing. He turned to me for my order, "ma'am?"

"I'll have the tilapia with the rice, steamed vegetables and a salad with fat free Catalina."

"And you sir," he turned to Ranger.

Ranger was just staring at me.

"What," I frowned.

"Nothing," he shook his head, "I'll have the same."

"Very good," the waiter said hurrying off.

We talked for a while about a variety of topics including the heat, Miami, the restaurant décor, and the restaurant clientele. As we ate our salads I asked him questions about real estate. I was thinking that some of my windfall would be well spent on a place of my own. He agreed that real estate was always a good investment. He recommended a realtor. We talked about what kind of place I wanted. He made me promise I'd let him check it out as far as the safety factor went. I agreed.

Over dinner we talked very little. At the end though, I couldn't resist it. "Ranger…do you know much about the Forturos?"

"Yea," he picked up his wine glass, "I brought in Manuel several years ago in Vegas from drug charges."

I leaned forward, "do you know any connection between Manuel and Angelo DePrisi?"

He frowned, "no. Why do you ask?"

"Forturo is a high bail for Vinnie, don't you think?"

"Yea, I thought so when I found out you had it."

"DePrisi asked Vinnie to do it," I said softly.

"Hmmm," he sat back in his chair. "That doesn't sound right."

"No kidding," I agreed. "It's common knowledge that DePrisi is anti drugs. What is he doing convincing Vinnie to do the bond? Forturo is up for conspiracy to take down someone in this territory that deals, why? What are the odds that Forturo is trying to cut into Giordano's turf? I mean wouldn't you work your way east and not head straight for Trenton?"

"I'm not a drug Lord," he said with a smile, "but what you're saying makes sense."

"Something doesn't feel right about this whole thing Ranger. My spidey sense is tingling like there is no tomorrow."

"You should trust your instincts, but do you really want any further involvement with the Forturos," he raised a brow.

"Oh God no," I shook my head emphatically.

"Then…let it go," he shrugged.

"Let it go," I agreed.

Our drive home was fairly quiet as well. He walked me up and checked the apartment out before I went in. He caught my hand as I walked past him, "I really am proud of you Babe. You did a good job."

"I had some help," I admitted, "I had a source."

"It's still good work," he said softly as his thumb moved over the top of my hand.

"Thank you," I smiled.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He leaned over and brushed my cheek lightly with his lips, "sweet dreams."

"Thank you for everything tonight," I said softly.

"Anytime Babe," he smiled and closed the door behind him.

I locked the door and went toward my bedroom with a smile. It had been a pretty successful evening. I bought a gun. I'd had a nice dinner. We'd had some nice conversation. I had a nice chaste kiss on the cheek. But the best thing was that he didn't think I was a total screw up. That was totally cool.


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

Ranger's Realtor connection really seemed to know what he was talking about. He sat me down in the conference room at Rangeman with Ranger in tow and asked me what I wanted in a house. I had to be honest even if it was in front of Ranger. I had a lot of Burg in me.

I looked down at my hands for a few moments and then raised my head almost in defiance. "I want a house. I don't mean a condo or a townhouse, I want a house. I want a house with a yard and an attached garage. I want at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms with a real master bedroom and I want a den or family room with a kitchen. I'd love an office, but I'll deal with it if I can't have it."

Ranger didn't even blink.

"And how much do you want to spend?"

I bit my lip. I had six hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but I didn't want to spend it all.

"Steph," Ranger raised a brow, "you can write a lot of the house off if you're worried about it."

I nodded in relief, "around four hundred thousand."

The realtor's brow went up, "and do you want to look in the Burg?"

"I want somewhere safe. Not necessarily in Trenton proper."

"In the Burg," he nodded.

"Well…maybe not THE Burg, but in a Burg," I bit my lip this time in fear.

"Babe," Ranger said and I saw the corners of his mouth twitch.

"Well, this should be fairly easy to accomplish. This is a buyer's market."

"Oh and once we find a house," I made a face and nodded toward Ranger, "he has to approve of it."

"I see," the realtor said. "I think I understand exactly what we're looking for. I'm going to go back to my office and get some listings together. I'll give you a call and we'll make an appointment to look at some houses."

"Sounds good," I nodded.

"Great," he nodded getting to his feet. "It was a pleasure to meet you Miss Plum. Always a pleasure Mr. Manoso," he said shortly and left us alone.

"Thanks Reid," Ranger said watching him exit the conference room. "Good job Babe. You told him what you wanted and you didn't mince words. You even gave him the final scenario."

I shrugged, "if I want this to be a successful house hunt, this is my only choice."

"You're making a lot of good choices these days Babe."

"I'm making some good choices. I've made a couple of bad ones too that just turned out okay."

"In any case, you seem to be making some changes in your life. What does Morelli think about all of this?"

I shrugged, "I don't have any idea."

"What do you mean?" He smiled, "I can't believe he didn't give you an earful about the Forturos."

"He did," I said softly.

"I don't understand," he frowned.

"We're not seeing each other anymore," I said quietly.

"Don't worry about it. It will work out. He can't stay away from you for long."

"He no longer has a choice," I got to my feet. "Thank you for your help Ranger."

"Yea," he said thoughtfully as he watched me leave the room.

I worked for a while longer doing my darnedest to keep to my mind on my work and not on Ranger or my defunct relationship with Joe Morelli or worse what he thought about my now defunct relationship with Joe. I was moving forward. Reid called at about four and said he had some houses he wanted me to see that night. I agreed.

At five thirty I was on my way out the door when Ranger caught me on the way to the garage.

"Are you on your way home?"

"Actually no, Reid has some houses to show me."

"Oh yea," he nodded.

"Do you want to go," I smiled up at him.

"It might save us time later."

I shook my head with a laugh, "okay Ranger. Come on."

We followed Reid to the first house from his office and before we even pulled into the driveway Ranger said no. He said that the crime statistics in the neighborhood showed that it was increasing. He didn't think it would be safe for a long a whole lot longer. We didn't even go into the house. The second house was in a better neighborhood, but he felt it was too obscured from the street. I would have thought that was a good thing, but Ranger said it meant that someone could break into the house easier. It was nixed. The third house was in a good neighborhood, Ranger thought it would be easy to defend, it had nice curb appeal, but I didn't like the inside at all. The rooms were all way to small.

Reid walked us up the sidewalk to the last house. It was in the same neighborhood as the last one, the house would also be easy to defend and it was in a cul-de-sac at the end backing up to a creek. The curb appeal was nice. The house was listed at three hundred and twenty thousand dollars, but it needed a lot of work. The rooms were spacious and there were plenty of them, but the house needed upgrading and I wasn't exactly what you call handy. Of course with the money I'd save on the house I could afford to pay someone to do some of the work.

"I like the house," I said softly running my fingers over the countertops. "It needs a lot of work, but I like it."

"It's structurally sound, but you can have it inspected. I know someone if you or Mr. Manoso doesn't."

I turned to look at Ranger and he nodded. "He knows someone." I bit my lip and turned back to Ranger, "we can make it safe?"

He nodded.

"I want to put a bid on the house," I nodded finally. We went to Reid's office and wrote up the contract. I was terrified. Ranger drove me home and went through the apartment for me. When he came back to the door I was just standing there shaking, "I can't believe I may have just bought a house."

"You can do this Babe. It's just a house."

"Do you think Rex will like it," I bit my lip.

"Babe," he raised a brow at me.

"Oh yea right," I said absently. "He's a hamster."

"It's going to be all right," he assured me.

"Okay," I nodded, "okay."

"Listen Babe, this is a big decision, but it's a responsible decision. This isn't something you should worry about. Everything is going to be all right," he tugged me against him and kissed the top of my head. "It's going to be fine."

"Okay," I sighed against him.

He pulled away, "now. Get some rest. The next several months of your life are going to busy and stressful."

"I know," I nodded and smiled up at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

He was right. I was very busy. I got the house. I got it for a song.

I ended up doing a whole lot of the work to the house myself or with the help of various Merry Men and Lula. The guys did the real work, Lula mostly felt like she needed to help with décor. She kept telling what needed to be done to make the place more Feng Shui. I didn't care about Feng Shui. I cared that the house was mine and not my parents and not The Dicks. It was Stephanie's house and I didn't give a crap if it had Feng Shui. I only cared that I felt right in it. Well, that Rex and I felt good in it.

I learned all sorts of things like how to cut tile and how to install a dishwasher. Okay, the dishwasher thing I mostly just watched, but I can cut tile now. It was a good thing I still had the Merry Men in my life because my parents weren't really talking to me.

My mother decided that Joe Morelli was very definitely my last chance at happiness and it was gone. He'd moved on. He'd moved on really fast. He actually married Terri Gillman less than three weeks after we split up. That gave me real pause for thought. In my mind the only way he'd be ready to get married to her that fast was if they'd had something going on before that. It didn't matter though. I'd be fifty before I had home-made pineapple upside down cake at my mother's house again.

Since I was cut off from all things good and tasty, I decided it was time I took some cooking classes. I know…me, Stephanie Plum, in the kitchen…what a crazy idea. But I enrolled in the classes. And…I like them. I even had all the Merry Men who'd helped me with the house over for dinner and I'd done the cooking. Nobody died. It was a good night. I haven't mastered the pineapple upside down cake yet, but then I'm not really eating sweets either. I was working out and enjoying my new house. I was becoming pretty proficient with my gun. I was pretty happy.

Okay, I was alone in my big new-to-me king size bed every night. That did suck. The other side of my bed and my life was empty. And now that the house was almost under control, that vacancy was starting to bother me more and more. As I expended less and less physical energy on the house, and ate almost no sweets, my…desires were starting to assert themselves. It wasn't really a good thing. I was shopping for a new shower head.

Work at Rangeman was going pretty well too. Ranger and I were getting along. We weren't spending our time in alleys cuddling like we'd done once, but at Rangeman the walls have eyes and I suspect ears. I know I always give them a wave.

The thing is that Ranger had backed off me completely. I almost never had a one on one conversation with him. I didn't see his eyes in that shade of black that made it clear to me that he wanted me. When he spoke to me, it was usually coolly and impersonally.

Ranger stopped by my desk and picked up the picture of my nieces on the desk, "how are they?"

"Growing like weeds," I beamed up at him. "They love my backyard."

"I'm sure they do," he granted me a small smile. "Do you feel up to helping me out with a distraction tonight? It's a federal case."

"Sure."

"Great, I'll pick you up at your place at nine," he said.

"How should I dress?"

"Corporate sexy," he nodded.

"Sounds good," I agreed.

"Thanks Babe," he said and walked away.

I put on a very short black shirt with a red silk halter top that looked a little more upscale than downscale. I decided on black high heeled sandals that I'd spent two weeks pay on. Those Jimmy Choo shoes were the most expensive pair of shoes I'd ever owned and I loved them. I pulled my hair back into a neat French twist at the back of my head. I made sure my Wonder Bra was in good working order and added a swatch of brilliant red lipstick that matched my top. When I surveyed my reflection I thought I looked like a girl with some money out for a good time. I tucked the Beretta into my purse and declared I was ready to go and Ranger wasn't even due to pick me up for five more minutes. I decided to use the time wisely and painted my nails.

I opened the door just as Ranger got to it and he blinked at me, "you're ready?"

"This is the new and improved Stephanie," I grinned up at him. "Do I look okay?"

"You look like you're going to flash your ass to my entire team getting in and out of the truck," he raised a brow. "Yea, I'd say you're fine."

"Thanks," I grinned and followed him to the SUV. He had to pick me up to put me into the truck because it was high off the ground.

"Mrs. Castillo across the cul-de-sac is going to have plenty to talk about at the next neighborhood barbeque," I said with a smile.

He didn't say anything, but the corners of his mouth lifted.

"She probably wonders how on earth I could have possibly captured your attention."

"Babe," he said and I could hear the question in that one word again.

"But then apparently every woman in the Berg thinks you're the hottest thing since Manolo Blahnick and they're all lusting after you."

He raised a brow at me.

"And apparently it's been unrequited at least for some."

"I haven't had time to get to every woman in the Berg yet," he said drily, "I do have responsibilities."

"Of course you do," I grinned, "poor Ranger."

"Yea, poor Ranger," he grinned.

I was left there smiling thinking about things on the rest of the drive to the bar where I'd be working my distraction. I was thinking about Ranger as my husband and the father of my children in my house. I wondered what Mrs. Castillo would think about that. I wondered what I would think about that. I started worrying that maybe I was more Burg than I'd thought. Maybe Joe just wasn't the Burg I wanted. Or maybe I wanted a modified version of the Burg, with my own very distinct modifications. I sighed. I had no idea.

Ranger lifted the front of the silk blouse up and taped the tiny transmitter under my left breast. If I hadn't been aware of my frustration before, I was now. His warm fingers brushed over my skin lightly as he worked. He pressed the tape in firmly and then smoothed the blouse back down and raised his head. When I saw the look in his eyes then, I knew he was still interested in me. But I wasn't sure if it was because I was there or because it was me.

"Ready," he tapped the file on my lap and let his hand rest on my bare thigh.

"I'm ready," I nodded trying to control the sudden thumping of my heart. I had to get out of the SUV fast before my upper lip broke out in sweat.

He reached over me to open the passenger door and his breath was hot on my neck, "go get 'em Tiger."

"Will do," I said and started to get out without taking off my seatbelt.

"Babe," he smiled and he opened the clasp.

"Sorry," I swallowed and all but jumped out of the truck forgetting that I would flash my black lace thong if I did.

"Babe," he groaned behind me.

"Sorry," I mumbled again pulling the skirt down and gathering myself together before heading into the bar to do my job. I took a deep breath and entered the bar. The bar was fairly full, but there just happened to be a seat next to my target. I sashayed over and smiled up at him, "is this seat taken?"

"It was waiting for you doll face," the man breathed. "Let me buy you a drink."

"Are you sure," I smiled coyly and crossed my legs exposing even more thigh. I leaned over on the bar on one elbow and gave the guy a glimpse of cleavage.

"Please," he said softly.

"House red," I flashed a smile at the bartender.

"Sure thing," he said and left to return with a glass of wine.

"Thank you," I smiled. "And thank you. Now please, tell me who you are. I'm Sherry."

"Hi Sherry," he leaned forward, "I'm Norman. What brings you to Jersey?"

"I'm here on business," I smiled. "I don't know anyone. What does someone do in Trenton New Jersey for fun?"

"It depends on what you're into doll face," he grinned.

"What if I wanted to dance the night away?"

"There's a great club on Montgomery," he said thoughtfully.

"Have you been there?"

"Oh hell yea, I go all the time."

"Is it hard to get in?"

"Not if you're with me," he grinned.

I could see the big bad wolf lurking beneath his grin, "really? You'd do that for me?"

"Abso-fuckin-lutely," he assured me.

"Would you do it tonight?"

"Sure doll face," he agreed.

"After we finish this drink," I smiled.

"Sure," he agreed.

After we finished the drinks, I got up showing even more thigh and sashayed out the door with him hot on my heels, his breath on my neck and his hand inches from my ass.

"My cars over there," I started around the corner, but he didn't arrive with me. I walked toward the SUV and waited for Ranger.

"You may be too much bait for the average man," Ranger grinned helping me into the truck.

"Why do you say that," I asked putting on my seatbelt.

"Lester and Hank are so befuddled and aroused by your display that they're hardly any help at all in this."

"Well…I didn't expose myself," I blushed, "except to you apparently."

"Yea," he said softly. "We'll get this guy turned in and I'll take you home."

"Sure," I agreed.

He drove me home and walked me to the door.

"Are you going to walk through this house too every time you drop me off?"

"Babe," he raised a brow. He left me in the foyer and checked out the house. "All clear," he said softly and then I was backed against the door jam of the open door and he was very, very close to me.

"Thank you," I whispered looking up at him. I could feel every nerve in my body come to life as he leaned in smelling like Ranger and feeling so dangerous, powerful and sexy.

"Thank you," he said softly as his lips touched my forehead. Then it was lights out.

I don't know how long lights were out for me, but when I came to my backside was cold. There was a breeze moving under my skirt and over my near naked behind and my front was entirely too warm.

"Don't move," he said softly.

I shivered and my teeth clattered, "where the hell are we?"

"I think we're on a steel I-beam on a building site."

"You're kidding," I blinked down at him.

"I wish I was," he sighed.

"I'm not really dressed for this maneuver," I shivered.

"No…and you're a bit of a distraction too," he grinned up at me.

"Funny," I blinked at him.

"Can you see anything?"

"I can see the clock on top of the community college and it's about 4:30am."

"The best we can hope is that someone will be here at six to let us down."

"How are we going to get their attention when they arrive?"

"You're going to drop a shoe on them," he said seriously.

"These shoes are Jimmy Choo Ranger," I glared at him.

"Its life or death Babe," he grinned.

"Jimmy Choo is two weeks pay," I said seriously.

He raised a brow, "is that more important than our lives?"

"Well, excuse me for being a girl," I said tiredly. "Fine…I'll drop a shoe…two if necessary." I frowned and mumbled under my breath, "It's not like I can buy them one at a time."

"I'll buy you new shoes," he smiled.

"You may have to," I raised my head and glared. "How long have you been awake?"

"About an hour," he said. "I figured out where we were. I figured out how we got here."

"How did we get here?"

"An evil-doer put us here," he gave me the 400 watt version of his grin.

"Very funny," I rolled my eyes.

"Oh and I was thinking about your relationship problems," he said quietly.

"My problems," my eyes narrowed.

"I think it's the sex," he said seriously.

"Oh Jeez," I groaned.

"I mean if he'd been that good you'd still be together," he asked.

"Oh God," I groaned and closed my eyes, "We are not having this conversation."

"Well, is he," he raised one expressive brow.

"I'm going to fling myself off this thing if you don't stop."

He grinned, "That's what I mean. I mean when we have a simple suggestion of a conversation about sex you get all worked up. Could he do that?"

"I am not worked up," I glared at him.

"You look worked up to me," his gaze lowered to my heaving breasts on his chest.

"I'm freezing," I blushed.

"You're half naked on top of a man who is lusted after by half the women in the Burg…unrequited of course, and you're just freezing?"

"You're pushing it Ranger. I'm now trained to kill when necessary thanks to you," I glared.

He laughed out loud, "all right…but just so you know, you may not be thinking about sex, but I am."

I groaned and felt a nudge against my pelvis and belly. "You're thinking about it too hard."

"It's not too hard yet," he grinned. "Besides…you have a really nice ass."

"Thanks," I sighed. "Yours isn't bad either."

"Thanks," he grinned.

While he pulsed down there striking up hormones in me that I didn't even know existed, I daydreamed about what it would be like to have him deep inside me for half a second before getting control of myself. "Don't start thinking about having sex with me Ranger…"

"Start," he raised a brow.

"I mean…don't keep thinking about having sex with me," I hissed wriggling to displace him from the spot causing so much unexpected sensation.

He groaned, "Keep it up and I'll find a way to work this out."

I stilled and swallowed. He was pulsing against a bundle of nerves and driving me insane. I was no longer freezing. As a matter of fact, it was getting rather warm up there. "You're not into relationships. I don't do casual sex. This is not a good thing."

"It's not huh," he said softly as his fingers trailed over my bare skin.

"It's not," I moaned softly.

"You'll have to do something to take my mind off of it then," he grinned. "Because you're a beautiful woman wearing very little and my imagination is running rampant," he studied me thoughtfully. "I think we could do it."

"Do what," I blinked at him in horror.

"Have sex right here," he grinned. "Granted it wouldn't be as nice as I would like it to be, but I'm pretty damn sure I can maneuver my way in."

"No," I glared at him determined to prove that I wasn't even considering it even though I was trying to figure out how myself. "I am not having sex with you on an I-beam on a building site 200 feet in the air. It's not happening."

"Oh come on Babe…live a little," he teased.

"No," I all but growled at him. My resolve was weakening. "My mother would hear all about it. It would probably be in the friggin newspaper. She's already not talking to me. I don't need this on top of it."

"You need to relax," he said with a smile. "We're going to be up here at least another hour. You need to relax."

"I can't. I'm freezing," I hissed.

"You don't feel like you're freezing. You're actually quite warm."

I glared at him.

"Yea…it's a little dewy up here," he crossed his arms over my back and relaxed.

"You're comfortable," I raised a brow.

"If I didn't fall off when I was asleep, I'm not going to fall off while I'm awake."

"Good point," I sighed.

"You could sit up and see if you can see anything."

"Aren't you worried about shifting the weight of the I-beam?"

"I think we're secured at both ends."

I nodded. "I'll try." I carefully maneuvered up pushing against his chest till I was straddling him right across his pelvis.

He groaned, "We could definitely have sex."

"We are not having sex," I glared at him. "There are a couple of pickup trucks pulling onto the lot."

"See if you can get their attention."

I lay back down on him and unfastened one of my shoes. Then I sat back up and tossed it so it landed against the side of the construction building. The three men stopped and looked up in shock and I waved at them.

I could hear yelling and I could see the men running around.

"We have their attention," I sighed. "Of course it cost me a very expensive pair of shoes, but we have their attention."

"Good…I guess," he sighed.

"You guess," I frowned at him.

"We didn't have sex," he sighed.

"Put that out of your head."

He pushed up with his hips slightly and rubbed against the warm aroused center of me.

I moaned softly, I couldn't help myself.

His eyes darkened, "don't hold your breath Babe."

* * *

Manolo Blahnick designer shoes

Jimmy Choo designer shoes


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

I reached for the phone with a groan. What was the point in having a day off so I could sleep in if I had to answer the damn phone, "hello?"

"Your mother is ironing," Grandma Mazur said with a laugh.

"Why is Mom ironing," I rolled to my back taking the phone with me.

"Because apparently you and the sexy guy with the great package were having sex 200 feet in the air on a construction site this morning."

"Grandma…I wasn't having sex with anyone, including Ranger. Let me talk to Mom."

"It's a damn shame," she clucked. "Ellen…she says she didn't have sex."

"Stephanie, were you on an I-Beam at the new Prudential office building," my mother said the moment she took the phone.

"Yes, I was on the I-beam," I agreed.

"Did you show your underpants," she sighed.

"Probably," I sighed, "I was wearing a skirt. I worked with Ranger last night and someone slipped us a Mickey or something and we ended up at the construction site on an I-beam. We didn't have sex. We weren't going to have sex. People need to stop thinking I'm going to have sex with Ranger."

"Who thinks you're going to have sex with Ranger," she asked.

"Grandma," I groaned.

"What about Ranger? Does Ranger think you're going to have sex with him?"

"Mom…I'm not the kind of girl that does that sort of thing."

She let out a sigh of relief. "All right, but just in case you start having sex with Ranger…I think you should bring him to dinner Saturday night," she said seriously.

"Why," I groaned.

"Because your father needs to get a look at him," she said seriously. "You're his baby girl."

"Mom…"

"Stephanie, your job makes me want to drink. Valerie makes me want to drink. I don't need your love life to make me want to drink again too."

"Joe wasn't right for me Mom," I said with a sigh.

"Of course he wasn't. He's already married to that trashy Terri Gilman. Everyone in Trenton knows she's in the Mob. You don't need a man like that for a husband. I don't want to hurt your feelings honey, but I don't think he was faithful to you."

"I don't think so either."

"I think you should change jobs though."

"I have changed jobs Mom. I work at Rangeman now. I am in front of a computer all day every day. Last night was rare."

"I would just feel better if you worked at the button factory or the Tasty Pastry."

"They can't afford me. And I couldn't afford my house if I quit."

"It is a nice house. Your father and I drove by it. But we'd help you if you went to work somewhere else."

"I like my job Mom."

"But they do things to you…those criminals," she sighed.

"The criminal element in Trenton is weird Mom. They don't do normal things. They…are freaky."

"They really do have openings at the button factory dear."

"Mom…I love you, but I'm not button factory material," I sighed.

"Bring Ranger to dinner," she said. "I love you too." She hung up.

I sighed and put the phone back on the charger. I didn't even have sex with Ranger and people were accusing me. Well, at least this time I didn't have sex with Ranger. I may as well as have sex with Ranger again.

The phone rang again, "hello," I barked.

"Girl," she said drawing the word out till my head throbbed, "you definitely didn't get laid last night by Ranger. You'd be in a way better mood."

"Shut up," I growled.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the I-beam."

"Lula…"

"Okay…I'm done busting your chops," she cackled. "What's got you all hot under the collar at noon?"

"Mom called."

"Oh yea," she smiled, "what did she want?"

"She wants Ranger to come to dinner Saturday…so Daddy can check him out since we're having sex on I-beams."

"You told her you weren't having sex, right?"

"Of course," I sighed heavily, "it didn't matter."

"Sorry white girl," she said with a short laugh, "go back to sleep."

"Thanks," I hung up the phone and rolled over and snuggled down to go back to sleep. It rang again seconds later and I considered throwing it out the window. I reached for it, "I did not have sex with Ranger on an I-beam."

"Babe," Ranger said softly.

"Shit," I rolled to my back again.

"We're a rumor in the Burg?"

"My mother is ironing," I sighed.

"Would it be out of the question for you to do another job for me tonight?"

"How much is it worth to you," I raised a brow.

"What do you mean," he said suspiciously.

"My mother wants you to come to dinner Saturday night."

"Since we're having sex?"

"Right," I sighed.

He was quiet a minute, "all right. Can you do Biker Babe?"

"I can."

"I'll pick you up at 8:30," he said. "Take the day off."

"Okay," I said tiredly.

"Babe," he said and hung up.

I put the phone up and stared up at the ceiling. How did my life get so out of whack? And why in the name of all that's holy did I agree to do another distraction job for Ranger and take him to my parents for dinner? What in the hell was I thinking? Was I thinking with those parts that made me tingle? This did not look good.

I got up a couple of hours later and went to the bank and the post office. I ran a couple of errands and stopped and had a salad, some fish and some fruit for lunch.

While I was at the post office I noticed one of those inconspicuous Black Ford Crown Victorias sitting in the parking lot with a guy in it. I was just congratulating myself for being aware of my surroundings when I saw Lester in a black SUV not too far from the Crown Vic. I sighed. Lester had probably been on me since I left the house. What made me notice the Crown Vic and miss Lester completely?

I went to pet store to shop for a new house cage for Rex. I thought it was time he got some more deluxe digs. I thought he'd been giving me dirty looks lately. Sure, he liked the new house. He had a window he could look out of now. But his room had not grown or changed. I think he was resentful.

When I left the pet store with Rex's brand new hamster house, I saw Lester and then I saw the Crown Victoria. This time I saw the occupant.

My first thought was…DAMN!!

My second thought was that Rangeman must have a new employee. I bit my lip for a second. I wouldn't have two guys from Rangeman following me unless they were in the same vehicle. Granted, Ranger bled money to protect me, but with the price of gas these days even he wouldn't be stupid enough to put two cars on me. Plus, I'd never seen any Rangeman employee driving a Crown Vic. They were cop cars.

My third thought was that the latest cover model from GQ must have made the wrong turn at Albuquerque. I thought that because the guy turned and looked at me. He was beautiful. He had light brown hair and dark blue eyes. He was model hot. Maybe Halle Berry misplaced him.

My next thought was that he was a cop. This got me moving. I didn't need or want to be involved with another cop. They were trouble to me. I do mean trouble with a capital T. I got back in my own SUV and drove home.

I got Rex's new cage set up and transferred him into it. I'd like to say that he did a happy dance or gave me the thumbs up, but he has no thumbs and apparently no rhythm because I got nothing. Oh well, sometimes you just have do the right thing because it's the right thing.

I took a quick shower and started getting ready for my new night with Ranger. I had dropped by and talked to Lula about what I should wear to that particular bar and she gave me some really good advice. I may not trust Lula with decorating my house or dressing me for church, but when I want to look like a ho…she's my go-to-girl.

I ended up wearing black leather hot pants, a black leather vest, and boots. Now before you start asking how that particular outfit got into my closet, I'll just say one thing. It wasn't really my idea. Joe occasionally liked to spice up our love lives with a little roll playing. Guess who I got to be? Yea…I sighed too.

I pulled my hair back into one curling pony tail with a little help with from some hair extensions and put on enough makeup to be Mary Jane, Lula, Connie, and throw Grandma Mazur in for good measure. I looked slutty. I felt slutty. After all I was having sex with Ranger on I-beams.

I sighed and went to the door at one minute till and opened it just as Ranger arrived.

"Wow," he blinked. "You do biker quite well."

"Thanks," I said handing him my house keys, "no place to keep them."

"Er…no," he agreed.

We drove to the bar in silence and he turned toward me with the transmitter in his hand. "It won't be like last night."

"I know," I said casually as his warm fingers unbuttoned the vest enough to tape the transmitter on my sternum. His fingers brushed the sides of my breasts and I felt my breath catch. I felt the warmth run through my body and struggled with control.

I stared out the window trying my best to appear calm, cool and collected as his fingers slipped over my skin. He glanced up at me while he buttoned the vest back up.

"Try not to drive my guys into becoming rutting bulls tonight, will ya?"

"Just doing my job Ranger," I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door. "I can't help if there's fallout."

"Try not to make it Nuclear…okay Babe," he said as his fingers slipped over my jaw.

"I'll do my best," I said sliding out of the truck and sauntering into the bar.

I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the light and sauntered to the bar. "Hey, beer please," I half smiled at the bar tender.

"Sure thing momma," the bar tender leered and offered me a drag off his cigarette.

"Thanks sugar, I just quit," I sighed.

He put a beer in front of me, "okay?"

"Great," I agreed.

"What's a sweet thing like you doing in a place like this?"

"I'm having one of those days," I sighed.

"What's wrong sweet pea," the target slid up on the stool beside me and hummed.

"Man trouble," I sighed.

The two men nodded solemnly.

"He won't marry you?"

"I'm a piece of ass," I shrugged sipping some beer.

"Sweet pea, you are nobody's piece of ass. You're a work of art," the target, Kirk 'Spike' Green soothed.

"Are you just trying to get into my pants," I raised a brow at him.

"Maybe a little," he grinned. "But I'd stay in there a really long time."

I threw back my head and laughed. "I like you. I'm Gina."

"I'm Spike," he grinned.

"So do I need to ask why they call you Spike," I grinned.

"You've got the picture," he grinned. "You know what you need baby…you need a man who'll show your old man that he can't take you for granted."

"Know anybody willing to take him on? He's a hot head."

"Yea," he raised a brow.

"Does he hit you," he frowned.

"He's only into a little spanking," I said slyly, "when I'm bad."

Spike reached down to adjust himself. "How bad are you?"

I shrugged, "sometimes I'm real bad. But Carlos is Latin…and you know what tempers they have."

"I can imagine," he nodded.

I ran my fingers over his thigh lightly, "and right now he's out doing who knows what to who knows who and I'm left all alone with nobody to do." I pouted slightly and leaned forward to make sure he saw the boobs were real and not a push up bra.

He swallowed, "and you're hurting?"

"I'm hurting," I said pouting a little more and taking his hand and putting it on my thigh.

"I'd be willing to take care of that for you right now darlin'."

"Yea," I smiled.

"Yea," he agreed.

"Follow me," I sashayed out the door. Again I made it around the building but Spike didn't.

"Babe," Ranger got into the truck beside me and shook his head.

"What," I blinked innocently.

"My guys are going to get blue balls from you," he sighed.

"I'm sure they can handle themselves," I said thoughtfully adjusting my seatbelt.

"And you used me," he raised a brow.

"Pretending is so much more real if I base it on real life," I smiled serenely.

"Right," he sighed. "I'm taking you home."

"Thank you," I smiled.

"No thank you," he pulled out onto the highway.

"Yea well, we'll see how you feel after dinner Saturday night."

"Hmmm," he said and we drove in silence the rest of the way home. He walked me to the door to make sure the alarm was still set and everything was okay.

I deactivated the alarm and turned back and he pressed me against the wall, "Ranger?"

"You're such a little thing," he said softly as his fingers slid over my collarbone gently. "And yet you're so dangerous…"

"How am I dangerous," I blinked up at him. I thought he was going to kiss me and then my world went black.

This time when I woke up groggily and felt the breeze, I knew where I was. "Fuck," I sighed.

"I'm willing," Ranger chuckled under me.

"What happened," I groaned and rubbed my hip.

"Tranq darts," he sighed.

"Great," I sighed. "No wonder I have a hang over."

"You know what the best cure for a hang over is," he grinned lecherously.

"Don't start," I glared at him.

"I can't help it," he grinned as he surged against me, "after all you're hurting."

"Jeez," I groaned and sighed and relaxed against him.

"You're more relaxed," he said rubbing my back gently.

"Sadly…I'm getting used to this," I sighed. "Criminals are freaks."

"That is sadly true," he agreed.

"And I'm losing another pair of shoes," I sighed. "I like these boots."

"I fucking love these boots," he sighed.

I raised my head and met his humorous but sincere gaze.

"I will definitely buy you another pair of these."

I laughed, "Is that your hormones talking?"

"It's my dick talking," he said with a sigh.

I grinned, "Poor Carlos."

"Nobody calls me Carlos but my mother," he said softly.

"I think I've earned the right by dangling here with you in the middle of the night with your erection poking me."

He grinned, "Want to earn it more?"

"I'm not having sex with you on an I-beam," I sighed and lay my head back down.

"But you will have sex with me," he said rubbing my back.

I just shook my head. I tilted my head to the left. "I hear a truck," I sat up and looked down.

The guy looked up and started yelling. I didn't have to lose my boots after all.


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

I reached for the phone tiredly, "no I didn't have sex with Ranger on an I-beam. No, I didn't have sex with Ranger. No it's not one of those new fangled ways for kids to have fun these days. Yes, there are some freaky ass criminals in Trenton. Are there any more questions?"

"Is he coming to dinner," my mother asked quietly.

"Yes, he's coming to dinner."

"Thank you dear," she said and hung up.

I sighed and hung up the phone. I reached for it seconds later and repeated my words.

"But you are going to have sex with him someday, right," Lula howled with laughter, "coz girl you need to tap that thing and then I want details."

"I'm not planning on tapping it."

"Is he planning on it?"

"You'd have to ask him," I sighed.

"I believe I will."

"Whatever," I sighed.

"You need to get some sleep."

"No shit," I groaned and hung up. I barely managed to get the phone back on the charger when it rang again. "What?" I growled and repeated my story.

Joe laughed, "Well…that's good to know. Ranger isn't getting into your pants."

"Nobody is," I sighed.

He was quiet a moment, "So…I need you to come down to the station."

"Why…is it illegal to _**not**_ have sex on I-beams?"

"No," he chuckled, "it's illegal for people to Tranq your ass and put you on the I-beam. It's attempted murder Cupcake."

I winced at his use of his nickname for me, "Fine…I'll be there."

"When," he grinned.

"Is there some kind of hurry?"

"Well…it's going to be night eventually and there's no one working at the construction site tomorrow. We may need to catch the bad guy before dark."

"Ha-ha-ha-ha," I sighed. "Give me an hour."

"Got it," he said hanging up.

I rolled to my back holding the phone and counted to one hundred. When it still didn't ring I started to put it back only to have it ring in my hand. "Jesus Christ," I groaned answering the phone.

"No…It's Ranger," he laughed.

"What's up," I yawned.

"Want a ride to the cop shop?"

"Sure," I sighed.

"Forty-five minutes," he said, "Babe."

I hung up the phone and all but ran for the bathroom. I wasn't going to answer it if it rang again.

An hour later I was sitting across the desk from Joe Morelli beside Ranger.

"So what was the same both nights," He asked and tapped his pen on the pad in front of him.

"We were bringing in a felon," Ranger nodded.

"Did they know each other?"

"No," Ranger shook his head. "The first was a government baddie. He sold secrets to special interests groups. The second was a Hells Angels wanna be. They didn't run in the same circles. I would find it difficult to believe they know each other."

"So it's not them, it is someone who's targeting the two of you and playing with you."

"I thought you were working Vice," I raised a brow at him.

"I'm in the special crime unit now," he said quietly.

"What does that mean," I asked.

"It's a variety of things. It could be a hate crime, or a sexual crime, or child based crime…," his voice trailed off.

"Goody," I mumbled.

"What," Joe grinned.

"The criminals in Trenton are freaks," I said quietly.

Ranger grinned.

Joe raised a brow, "Your mom's ironing."

"She's ironing the neighbors shit," I sighed.

"That is bad," he shook his head.

"The place is the black hole of sanity."

"She needs a night off," Morelli said to Ranger.

"I really need her tonight though. I've got this college kid to bring in and she's hot."

"Hmmm," he sighed.

"Another one," I raised a brow at Ranger.

"We'll have protection. We'll wear transmitters. We'll be fine."

"A college kid," I sighed.

"Yea," he nodded.

"Fine…bring it on," I grunted. "Are we done here?" I got to my feet and headed for the door.

"Sure Cupcake," Joe said, "have fun at dinner with the parents."

"We will," I grimaced.

"We," he glanced at Ranger.

Ranger raised a brow.

"Wear your chastity belt," Joe said clapping Ranger on the back.

"I'll shoot your grandmother if she touches my dick," Ranger said quietly as we walked down the hall.

"Go ahead," I sighed. "I'm too tired to care."

* * *

My mother called me as soon as I got home and asked me to do a couple of errands for her and while I was out I noticed the black Crown Vic again. This time it was Hal following me and he was very aware of the Crown Vic. I watched him watching the car with interest from inside the butcher shop.

When I left the butcher shop I got a glimpse of the guy in the Crown Vic for the first time. I saw black hair and clear blue eyes that stood out in his gorgeous tanned face. He looked Ivy League. He reminded me of that guy on HGTV…Carter Oosterhouse. He was hot.

Some of that must have shown on my face because when I glanced over at Hal he was raising his eyebrow at me. Oh well…busted.

I tapped on the kitchen door at my parents and pushed it open. "I'm here Mom."

She hurried in from the dining room. "Thank you dear. I hope it wasn't any trouble."

"It was no trouble at all. Ranger's not having me work at Rangeman this week while I'm doing these distractions since we've had some problems."

"Dear…you've been almost naked at constructions sites."

I shrugged. What she said was true. How could I argue? "Yes I have been," I agreed. "But nothing has happened."

"So far," she said softly putting the food in the refrigerator.

"So far," I agreed. "Well…I better go. I need to get ready for tonight."

She glanced out the window as she washed her hands and made a face. Her face turned and she looked out to the left and grimaced. She reached for the dish towel to try her hands and sighed. "Dear…the Button Factory…"

"…still isn't my thing Mom," I kissed her cheek and hurried out the door.

She didn't push me that hard about quitting. She didn't ask me any questions about the horrible breakup with Joe, that of course had been all over the Burgvine and therefore she had to know all the dirty little details. She didn't ask me anything about my relationship with Ranger. She also didn't ask me about the black SUV parked across the street from her house or the black Crown Vic parked down the street and I know she saw them both when she was at the sink washing her hands. Maybe she was finally going to let it go a little bit.

I hurried home to get ready for my night with Ranger by taking a long and much needed nap.

* * *

When he picked me up at 8:30pm on the dot, I was wearing a flirty little skirt and flirty little cheap shoes and a barely there halter top that exposed my belly. I had decided on the shoes based on how much it would cost to replace them if I had to hurl them off the I-beam later that night. I thought I'd made a prudent choice.

Since I had napped instead of eaten, I'd eaten a piece of cake that Lula brought by. She and Tank were preparing for a someday wedding. These days they were meeting with bakers and caterers. I thought it was for the free food. But that's just me.

"Okay," Ranger said settling me into the truck, "the guys are starting to fight over the assignments when you're involved as bait. I may need to rethink this."

I grinned, "Well, at least my egos being stroked."

"I'll stroke more than your ego," he said darkly.

I studied him from under my lashes.

"Thinking about it, aren't you," he said parking in front of the building.

"Absolutely," I said with a smile.

He leaned over and pressed his mouth to mine and kissed me slowly and languidly. His tongue slipped into my mouth tasting and exploring, coaxing me to kiss him back. After a few seconds of his assault I did kiss him back. It had been a long time since I'd been kissed by him.

"I'd fight for the assignment too if I had to," he whispered against my mouth.

I took a breath and smiled, "let's get this show on the road."

"Babe," he frowned studying the skimpy top. "Where am I supposed to put the wire? Your outfits get skimpier and skimpier all the time."

I smiled and lifted the top and pointed to a spot just under my right boob, "right there."

"That's a good spot," he swallowed.

"Thanks," I blushed hotly.

He leaned over and I felt his mouth on my skin and then he pressed the bug and the tape to my skin.

"Seriously Ranger…are you trying to get me into bed?"

"Yes," he gazed at me intently.

I blinked at him, "I'm not really a casual sex kind of girl, remember? We've already been there, done that. It wasn't a happy ending."

"We were happy for a while."

"Only till morning," I reminded him. "You sent me back to Joe. It wasn't a happy ending. I can't do casual sex."

"That is what's holding me back," he sighed. "But you're potent stuff Babe, and I'm only a man."

"I thought you were Batman," I smiled as he smoothed my shirt down.

"Nope, I'm not a super hero. I just have some really nifty gadgets."

I smiled, "let me see a picture of the target."

He pulled out a manila envelope and passed it to me. "Here's the info."

"This kid's a hit man," I blinked.

"Yep," he agreed.

"Okay…and am I his type?"

"Babe…you're every man's type."

"You say the sweetest things," I smiled.

"Go get him Tiger."

"Done deal," I agreed.

It took even less time to convince Bobby Badass to leave the bar with me for a quickie than it took either of the other two guys.

"So…Lester wants to know what kind of underwear you're wearing," Ranger climbed into the truck and grimaced at me.

I laughed, "Poor guys."

"I'm actually looking forward to seeing you with clothes on tomorrow night."

I laughed, "I'm looking forward to wearing them."

"Well…maybe you can skip the panties."

"I always wear panties," I blushed.

"Like the other night?"

I laughed, "They're still panties even if they're barely there."

"I can't argue that," he paused. "Okay Tank and Lester are following us to your place. We'll secure the premises. We have recon in place already. Once the place is secure we'll leave you to your own devices."

"Oh damn…does that mean we won't spend the night clinging to each other on an I-beam?"

"I'm afraid not Babe. Are you disappointed?"

"Horribly," I sighed.

He grinned and pulled into my driveway. Hal walked to his SUV giving Ranger the thumbs up. Ranger got out and came around to help me out of the truck.

The wind blew and my skirt went up. I laughed and caught it pushing it down. "Damn…I guess Lester's seen my panties."

"He's chewing his knuckles," Ranger said tiredly, "I'd say that you're right." He opened the door and escorted me inside. "So…you're okay?"

"I'm good," I agreed.

"Okay," he smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow night then?"

"Absolutely," I nodded.

"I'll pick you up at five-thirty Babe," he said stroking my face.

"Okay," I nodded.

He leaned forward and kissed me hungrily and then jerked away and left the house.

I kicked off my sandals and went into the bathroom. I saw a bit of smoke out of the corner of my eye, and then it was lights out.

I came awake on top of Ranger. "No fucking way," I sighed.

"Way," he groaned.

"What happened this time?"

"Smoke in my car," he sighed.

"Smoke in my bathroom," I said quietly.

"Great," he sighed, "they're in our spaces."

"I thought you had good alarms on your cars?"

"I did," he sighed. "This one is new."

"You didn't check it out."

"Somebody did. Somebody will hear about it."

"Ranger…"

"Yes Babe," he raised a brow.

"Are your hands on my ass?"

"I'm just keeping your ass warm," he grinned.

"Right," I sighed.

"Nobody's working tomorrow."

"I know."

"We may have to find another way to get out of this one."

"Yea," I sighed.

"I'm not really comfortable with that though."

"Me either," I sighed.

"And I figure somebody will know to look for us here."

"I think you're right," I agreed.

"You're very agreeable tonight."

"I'm mellow," I agreed.

"Mellow enough to have sex on the I-beam?"

"Ranger…it's been awhile since we've had sex. If we're going to have sex again, do you honestly believe that I'd want to do it here?"

He studied my face and moved his hands over my bare ass, "no…you deserve a bed and a lot of attention."

"Thank you."

"But God I want you," he whispered as his lips moved over my jaw and his erection bumped against my nerves.

I relaxed against his body as his hands moved gently over me. I raised my head.

"I hear it," he blinked.

I sat up and the guy was there yelling.

He had a feeling, he told us later.

I was glad.

Ranger took me home. His entire team had been through my house. More alarms had been added and cameras. He kissed me and his pager went off and he was gone.

I sighed and took a long hot shower and climbed between the sheets. I could feel myself getting weaker where he was concerned. If we ended up on the I-beam again, I didn't know if I could stop him. I didn't know if I'd ever be able to stop him again.


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

When I woke up the next day it was after noon and I was still sleepy. The first thought that entered my head was that I'd survived another night on the I-beam with Ranger. The second thought was that I was precariously close to doing more than that with him. The third thought was that I really wanted Ranger. That freaked me out. It didn't freak me out because I desired Ranger. I'd desired Ranger practically since I met him. It freaked me out that I wanted more from him than sex. I wanted a relationship that may someday include marriage and babies. His life didn't lend itself to that sort of thing. It was downright depressing.

I took a long hot shower and turned on the television and made myself a little bite to eat. I would be eating again in just four hours and if I didn't eat my mother would be upset.

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror for about an hour trying to see if there was any difference in my face. I had felt lust before. I had never felt that stirring to procreate before though. I winced. Great…I have a biological clock. Who knew?

I studied my closet and eventually decided on jeans, sneakers and a plain white tee shirt. I wore no make-up, some Chapstick and combed my hair. I wanted to be completely different than he'd seen me in the last several days. I wanted to be me. I wanted there to be no doubt.

Ranger rang the bell at five thirty on the dot. He was in his usual black.

I opened the door and smiled, "hi."

"Babe," he smiled.

"Are you ready for this," I grimaced.

He arched a brow and leaned down to kiss me gently.

"Did you sleep?"

"A couple of hours," he nodded.

"Did you learn anything about our puppet master?"

"I learned that he's definitely trying to make a statement."

"He's making one," I agreed grabbing my keys and locking up the house behind me.

"Yea," he agreed leading me to the truck.

"We have an escort," I raised my brow and waved at Tank and Cal.

"Anytime we go out we'll have an escort," he nodded.

"We weren't even together last night," I pointed out.

"I didn't say we'd be together."

"You're going to have someone follow me all the time again," I raised a brow as I climbed into the truck. "You could have told me Ranger. I've seen them following me."

"I need you to be safe," he said quietly.

I digested those words for a few minutes.

"I like you with clothes on."

I laughed, "Thanks." I looked over at him to see him smiling as he drove. "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing," he said and put his hand on my thigh, "I just like you even more now."

My heart thumped out of control, "Ranger…you really need to stop trying to get into my pants. Everyone in the Burg will know in three hours."

He laughed, "I haven't really been around you when you're wearing pants lately Babe. But I do know that if you have on pants of any kind, I want in them."

"Okay," I said seriously ignoring his words, "tell me what you've figured out about our stalker friend…the puppet master."

"All right," he nodded changing the subject with ease. "He's someone very rich with a lot of resources. He's taking his time with us. He feels no need to hurry this, he wants to enjoy it. He's a psychopath. Know anybody like that?"

"Sure…a few hundred and almost everyone in Trenton," I shrugged.

"I doubt if he's hooked into the family. I think he's independent but he has a following. And either both of us have wronged him in some way…or he's connected us together for some other reason."

"Eddie Abruzzi," I raised a brow.

"He didn't have that much imagination," he said seriously, "besides…he's dead."

"Oh right," I nodded. "So we need to do some research."

"I think that's the right way to start. How about tomorrow? It's quiet at the office on Sundays. We could spread out in the conference room and get some work done."

"Sure," I agreed.

"Do you want to sleep late?"

"No…I need to get back in the habit of early rising."

"Okay…what time," he raised a brow.

"I'll get up at five and…"

"Why don't I pick you up at five thirty? We can work out at Rangeman and then work."

"I'll be rancid," I laughed.

"You can shower there," he smiled.

"Okay," I frowned. "That doesn't mean that I'm going to sleep with you," I raised a brow.

"I'm wounded," he said seriously.

"And I'm not going to shower with you either."

"We'll see," he laughed.

I shook my head as he pulled up in front of my parent's house. Grandma Mazur was sitting on the porch waiting for us. Grandma looked delirious with glee when she saw Ranger.

Ranger walked around and opened my door and leaned in, "remember what I said about your grandmother and my dick."

"Maybe you better leave your gun in the truck," I winced and bit my lip.

"Not a chance," he helped me out and locked the truck and followed me up the walk.

Grandma hurried down the sidewalk and hugged me to her. "You look different…what's different about you?"

"I don't know Grandma."

"That's something," she smiled. "And I see you've brought that good looking young man with the nice package."

"Grandma, don't touch Ranger's dick. He's going to shoot you if you touch his dick."

Grandma cackled with laughter, "well ain't he a pip."

She looped her arm through mine and led me into the house. Ranger followed behind.

We stopped by the living room to say hi to my father and I left Ranger in there with him and went to the kitchen to helped Mom carry the food in to the dining room. Val and her brood arrived while I was helping Mom. At that moment I sort of felt sorry for Ranger. Grandma sat by Val on the other side of the table with Albert. The girls ate in the kitchen. That left Ranger and I on the other side of the table alone.

"I'm glad you were able to make it tonight," Mom said brightly to Ranger as she filled her glass with wine.

"Thank you for inviting me," he said calmly putting vegetables on his plate and passing them to me. We were pretty sure that we would be the only one's eating them.

"Did you and Stephanie have fun at the construction site last night?"

Ranger glanced over at me and raised a brow. "No, I wouldn't say it was fun."

I concentrated on my plate and didn't even raise my eyes.

"What about you dear, did you have fun?"

"I uh," I studied my plate, "what can I say Mom? I love being kidnapped from my home while wearing something I wouldn't like to be found dead in and being suspended 200 feet in the air praying that there won't be any rain or a strong breeze with my ass in the wind."

My father groaned.

"Sorry Daddy," I shrugged. "Trenton is the black hole of sanity."

Mom swallowed the rest of her glass and sighed, "I am beginning to believe that's the truth dear."

"It is the truth Mom," I said seriously.

"What about you Ranger…do you think Trenton is the black hole of sanity," Albert asked seriously.

"If it's not the black hole, it's in the suck path," he said quietly.

Grandma chuckled, "I can't argue with that."

"God knows I can't," I said seriously.

I watched Val pour the gravy over her food and sighed. I wanted to say, 'that stuff is going to kill you' just like Ranger always used to say to me, but Grandma Mazur was a million years old and she subsisted on it.

Ranger nudged me with his knee and smiled. He knew what I was thinking.

I helped my mother serve the cake and sat back down. It was my second favorite cake, lemon cake.

"At least eat a bite Ranger. I know your body is a temple, but…" I waved the fork in front of his mouth. He leaned forward and took a bite, "damn…that's good."

"See," I grinned, "sometimes sugar is good."

Ranger actually finished his cake.

"We may not get to take as much home as usual tonight," Val teased Albert as we cleared the table.

"Ranger likes the cake," my mother grinned. "I'm sending cake home with him."

"Oh you don't have to do that Mrs. Plum," he swallowed.

"Afraid you'll become addicted," I grinned.

"You'll find me lying on the kitchen floor in a sugar coma," he sighed.

"That could be interesting," I grinned and took more things into the kitchen.

My father had already returned to his chair in front of the game.

"We should join him," Albert jerked his head toward the living room.

"Hmmm," Ranger got to his feet and followed him into the living room. The men sat on the couch in front of the baseball game and eventually they relaxed and sat back and watched the game together.

I sighed and stood in the dining room watching them. "What is it about men? You put a ball game on and even if they have nothing else in the world in common…even if they don't even like the sport that's on, they fall into this relaxed Bundy state of existence?"

Val giggled, "I know. Women don't do that. We are uncomfortable in someone else's kitchen."

"You're probably not," I shrugged.

"And you're uncomfortable in everyone's kitchen, including your own," she teased, "except at the toaster and the microwave."

"Don't forget the coffee pot," Mom reminded her as we returned to the kitchen.

"Actually I've been taking cooking classes," I said quietly.

My mother looked up at me in astonishment, "you're learning to cook?"

"I'm taking classes," I agreed. "I'm learning."

"Your children won't starve," Mom said happily.

"I need to learn how to cook some of your recipes though," I said seriously. "Will you teach me Mom?"

"Of course I'll teach you. I taught Valerie."

When we left the house an hour later each of us had a bag of leftovers and Ranger had most of the cake. As soon as we pulled away from the curb I started giggling.

"I'm not going to eat it," Ranger assured me. "I'll just take it home and put it in the fridge and it will be there tomorrow…in case you want some of it."

"Of course," I nodded.

"You don't believe me," he raised a brow.

"I'm sure you have a great deal of will power Ranger," I said solemnly.

"Just not about your mother's lemon cake," he shook his head.

"Its good cake," I sighed.

"Yes it is," he agreed. "But I have to say that the only thing I have any trouble at all resisting is you."

"Are you trying," I raised a brow as he pulled into my driveway.

"Of course I'm trying," he assured me.

"You need to try harder," I said softly.

He studied me for a moment, "why?"

"Because you'll end up breaking my heart," I said softly.

"You don't know that."

"Your life isn't conducive to relationships," I said seriously.

His expression became somewhat grim.

"And I'm not a casual sex kind of girl or I'd have been laid more."

"That's also true," he sighed.

"So…I know that I'd become emotionally attached to you."

"You already are," he said softly and leaned over to kiss me.

I sighed in his mouth and let the kiss deepen. "That's not fair Ranger."

"Maybe not," he sighed.

"Let's get you inside so I can go home and go to bed…alone," he groaned.

I smiled and jumped out of the truck, "I'll be sleeping alone too."

"You better be," he said watching me unlock the door.

Lester walked in from the kitchen, "the house is clear. I've checked it for bugs and devices. I've even checked the plumbing. You're good to go."

"Thank you," I nodded.

"We'll be monitoring the house from Rangeman," Ranger said with a smile as Lester walked away. "We'll know if anything happens. Babe, don't go anywhere."

"Where would I go?"

"Midnight doughnut run," he suggested.

"Ha," I laughed, "you're not dealing with the old Stephanie here. I'll be fine."

"Okay," he nodded. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay," I agreed.

"Babe," he muttered and started out the door before turning around and kissing me fiercely.

I locked the door behind him and set the alarms. I leaned against the wall by the door for a few moments before heading to my bedroom. Like it or not, Ricardo Carlos Manoso was an integral part of my life. I just didn't know for how long or in what capacity.


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

It was dark when we pulled into the underground private garage of Rangeman. Cameras followed us to the elevator. I could hear the camera whirring even on the elevator. We went to the third floor and he led the way to the workout room. There was no one else in the room. He was right, the weekend was quieter, but they were still watching. During my workouts in the week, the room was almost always full of guys.

I headed immediately for the treadmill. I like to start slow and warm up my muscles. Ranger joined me on the treadmill beside me. I moved from the treadmill to an elliptical machine. And then a while later I moved to a stair stepper. I did weight training after that and then returned to the treadmill. All the while I was thinking about what was going to happen that afternoon. And I was doing my best to work out any frustrations I may have.

About an hour and a half later I finally looked up, "Okay…I'm done."

He nodded and we went back to the elevator and up to the seventh floor. He led me to the bathroom. "You can go first."

"Thanks," I smiled dropping my bag on the floor. I waited for a moment. "You can go now. I can handle it from here," I smiled.

"Yea," he nodded, "right."

He walked away and I closed the door with a shake of my head. I took a quick hot shower and dressed and brushed my hair, but didn't bother to dry it. When I appeared in the kitchen a few minutes later I was fresh faced and ready to face the next obstacle.

He nodded and disappeared into the bathroom.

When he got back out I was just setting up the breakfast that his housekeeper Ella had delivered on a small table in the kitchen.

"I've always wondered," I teased, "does she iron your underwear too?"

"What underwear," he said sipping from his coffee cup.

"Of course," I nodded and blushed hotly.

"I'm busy, she makes life easier," he said seriously.

"I'm sure she does," I agreed.

"Are you going to give me a hard time about this?"

"Nope."

"Okay," he said quietly. We ate in silence and then I gathered all the dishes. I wanted to wash them rather than leave them for Ella, but he wouldn't let me.

"We have two choices. We can go to the conference room or we can work in the living room? We can spread out in there too."

"Either way is fine," I shrugged.

"There's less chance of interruption if we stay up here.

"Sounds good to me," I nodded.

I shrugged and headed to my bag to pull out some folders with some information I'd gathered and my laptop. I also had a couple of spiral notebooks for new notes.

"You look prepared."

"I'm trying to be. I did some research already on my own."

"Great," he said opening his lap top. "Why don't we start with the Forturos? We have both dealt with them. Let's clear them first."

"I doubt they bonded back out," I said seriously, "especially Ramon. I mean he's got a double homicide on his neck that they can definitely prove he did."

"Yea…but Manuel is really the one to watch. Ramon is a hot head, but Manuel is devious. This is just the sort of thing that he would do."

"Great," I sighed.

"And since he respects you, he wouldn't kill you fast."

"How do you know he respects me," I frowned at him.

"He's mentioned it to a few people," he shrugged.

"Did you bring Manuel in too?"

"About three years ago," he nodded.

"He goes to the top of the list then," I agreed.

"Yea," he agreed. "His wounds are too fresh."

We spent hours going over case after case and other than the Forturos no other lead looked promising. There were a few cases we'd both worked, but in most of those cases the perpetrator was still locked up or deceased and had no relatives or persons of interest who would carry on the crime against us. We had to look closer at Manuel. He had the resources and according to Ranger, he was a sick puppy.

I gathered my belongings and stuffed them into the bag. "I guess the next step is recon. I'll make some more phone calls now that we've narrowed the hit list."

"And I'll get someone to Vegas," he nodded.

"I'll let you know if I find out anything."

"Yea," he agreed. "You look like you're ready to go."

"Was there something else?"

"No sex," he said a little too flippantly.

"It's just not a good idea Ranger. I'm telling you that I'd become emotionally involved and that's a complication you don't want."

He studied me in silence.

"It's not that I'm not interested, you know I am. You're a very sexy man," I sighed. "But I'm a commitment kind of chick and you're not a commitment kind of guy."

He sighed. "I understand. If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

"Of course," I swallowed back the pain.

"I'll take you home then," he said tiredly.

He drove me home. I made a few phone calls when I got home and found that not only had Manuel made bail, but it was presumed at that point that he'd jumped bail and left the country. I thought that was possible. He could hide for a very long time in Mexico. They would protect him, because they were afraid of him.

That wasn't even the bad part. The bad part was that Ramon had been killed in jail. It was presumed to be a hit. The hit man was also dead. They had no leads. I was the one who sent Ramon to jail. Suddenly it meant that Manuel was more than just the tip of our hit list. He was the only suspect in my mind.

I leaned back on the couch and let my mind wander. If it was Manuel, he could be mad that Ramon was dead and hold me accountable. That would make a lot of sense. And Ranger said Manuel was crazy. If he stayed in Trenton for revenge, he was probably crazy. If he wasn't crazy, Trenton would certainly make him that way.

Yea…I was sure Manuel was our guy. I called Ranger and got his voice mail and left a message.

I was a little bit bereft. He might have been busy, or he could be stepping back and getting some perspective of the situation. He was a busy successful man and I doubted that I figured into his future plans.

It made me sad to think about a Ranger free future. I had to think about whether I could do casual sex. It may just be the only way to keep him in my life. I just wasn't sure whether I could settle for just sex with the man that I was spending my time daydreaming about having children with. That was a complication I wasn't sure I could ignore.

I did my laundry and cleaned my house and went to the grocery store. I double checked and cleaned all my weapons and made sure I had plenty of supplies. Then just to be on the safe side, I went to confession. I didn't confess everything that was going on, but I did confess to lustful thoughts.

I ran into my mother when I was leaving the church and she beamed with joy. I may lead her to drinking, but at least she knew I was going to church. I stopped by the house and had dinner with her, Dad and Grandma and then escorted Grandma to a viewing at the funeral home after Mom gave me strict instructions.

I returned Grandma at eight and went on home. I had no messages. I picked up the phone and dialed the first six digits of Lula's number and hung up. She knew a hell of a lot more about casual sex than I did and I thought maybe she could help me with some perspective. I thought about dialing it again, but finally flopped down on the couch with the remote and skimmed channels.

About half an hour later, Lula called me.

"Hey white girl," she said happily. "What cha doing?"

"Channel surfing…what about you?"

"I'm going to do some surveillance on a FTA. Do you want to tag along?"

"Sure, why not," I agreed.

"He knows my car…will you drive?"

"Sure, are you at home?"

"Yes."

"I'll see you in ten," I said sitting up.

"I'll be ready to shake and bake," she laughed and hung up.

I sighed and made my way to Lula's apartment. She was waiting outside. "Who's the felon?"

"I'm not really much of a felon apprehension kind of girl," she said with a wave of her well manicured hand. "I'm more of the misdemeanor apprehension kind of girl. Plus I don't like to go to the cop shop. I'm allergic to cops. You know that. If you take in a felon there's always all kinds of paperwork. I don't want to spend time with the boys in blue. They make me nervous. I'll just stick to the little guys."

I nodded.

"How's the I-beam thing going?"

"Good…we have a major suspect."

"That's always good," she nodded.

"How is the cake hunting going?"

"Good, we've narrowed it to about ten," she said gazing out the window. "Toward Beacon," she waved at a sign.

"Okay," I sighed and turned at the light.

"Did you sleep with Batman," she said from out of the blue.

"Whoa," I blinked at her in shock. "Where did that come from?"

She shrugged, "It's just that…well, you and Batman have done some kissing and you've been to his apartment and you know Ella. And you took that man to your mamma's house for dinner."

"So you think I may have slept with him," I frowned.

"It's not an accusation," she grinned. "I just want to know the details."

"No…I don't kiss and tell."

"But did you sleep with him?"

"I don't do that and tell either," I sighed. "Besides I don't think it would be a good idea for me to sleep with Ranger. He doesn't do relationships and I am…"

"Boring," she raised a brow.

"You say to-may-to and I say to-mah-to," I shrugged.

"Girl you got to find the right fit. The only way to do that is to pull down a few zippers and test out the hardware inside."

"Oh my God," I groaned.

"Look, I used to be a ho and I'm changing my ways. You know all that. Now, I have a man and I'm busy testing out wedding cakes and shit just in case, but it wasn't that long ago that I contemplated scaling Mount Batman and riding him like wild bronco." She made a face showing her teeth and bounced in the passenger's seat pretending to slap reins across something.

I felt a little sick.

She shuddered after a moment and contemplated me, "Come on Girl…do you want him or not?"

"What?"

"I mean…do you have feelings for him?"

"Oh dear Lord," I groaned and wondered once again why I agreed to do this.

"I just want to know if you really think you could fall in love with Batman? Because I think you can. Hell girl, I think you did."

"Lula…"

"Well…are you only interested in a quick…or slow roll in the hay?"

"I like him…okay," I sighed, "but I know he's not available for an emotional relationship and I'm not sure that I'm someone who can do casual sex. I'm pretty sure that I can't do casual sex. But that doesn't mean that I don't think about it or him or…" I groaned and broke off.

"I think he loves you."

"In his own way," I rolled my eyes. "It's not the way a man loves a woman he wants to spend his life with though I'd say."

"You don't know that," she said seriously.

"I don't want to get hurt again."

"Again," she hissed and her eyes got so big it looked as though they may pop out of her head.

"Look, shit happens," I turned away from her to stare out the window. "He's not interested in me. He told me to work it out with Joe."

"You and Joe are over."

"I am aware of that," I said softly.

She was quiet for a few moments. "When Ranger gets back, maybe you better talk to him about it."

I blinked, "Ranger's gone?"

"He had to go to Miami for a while," she said seriously. "I thought you knew. Connie told me."

I took a steadying breath, "there's no reason why he should have told me. We're not married. It's not a big deal."

"Okay…turn on Greenbrier; it's the blue house on the right."

"Okay," I agreed.

We watched the house in relative silence for a while. She finally decided that her FTA wasn't there and probably wasn't coming there. So at one am I dropped her off at her place.

"Steph," she sighed waiting to close the door to my SUV, "if you love him you should go after him."

"Loving goes both ways Lula," I said pointedly.

"You may be right there," she grunted.

I waited until the light went on in her apartment before pulling out of the apartment building parking lot and heading for my own home.

He once again had left town without telling me. He didn't care about me like that. We'd discussed what he could and could not offer me. I knew where I stood. Why then was I so hurt? I was an idiot. I would put him out of my mind. I would forget all about him in those terms.

Unfortunately it was easier said than done.


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

For a prime suspect Manuel was nowhere to be found and once Ranger was out of town didn't seem interested in following up with me. I went to the office every day and at lunch dropped by to see if Vinnie had anything for me as well. Most days he had something. It wasn't that I was having any trouble making ends meet. It was just that it kept me busy.

Theoretically with every capture I made, the streets of Trenton were safer. But what works in theory doesn't necessarily work in life. Just because I was doing my job didn't mean that there weren't even more nut jobs being produced daily.

Every day I saw Ranger's guys tailing me. I'd wave at them and they'd wave back. Sometimes if I stopped somewhere, they'd stop and have coffee or a soda with me. Occasionally at night I'd head out to Shorty's with them for some pizza and beer. We had a good rapport. It seemed they were starting to respect me and not just like me.

Of course, being without him made me think about what it was like when he was around. Granted I was tired all the time, but it was fun. And the almost sex wasn't bad either. I especially liked the flirting. I really missed the flirting and the kissing.

I was out running errands on a Saturday when the Crown Vic finally decided that it was time to let me know what was up. I walked out of the dry cleaners and there they were. The good looking guy I'd seen before was tall. He was very tall. He was probably six foot four and my only thought was that I could wear heels when we got married. Yea…I need a life. The other guy was in his forties and his waistline had seen better days. He was losing his hair and his face was scrunched into one of those permanent scowls. I had a feeling he was going to be bad cop.

I put my dry cleaning into the back seat of my car and sighed as they approached me.

"Ms. Plum," the hottie said with a slight smile and opened his badge, "I'm Agent Goodman and this is Agent Stinger. We're with the FBI and we'd like to talk to you about Manuel and Ramon Forturo."

"I don't know much about them," I said seriously. "What I do know, I've already said in my statement to the police on the night I apprehended them. What do you think I know that could help you?"

"Why don't we have some coffee and discuss it," he waved toward Rosie's Diner.

"Sure," I said leading the way into the diner. I found a booth away from the door and sat facing it leaving them with their backs to it. I fought the urge to smile when the older man sighed heavily and scooted into the booth.

The waitress bustled over and took our order and Agent Goodman leaned on the table.

"How much do you know about the Forturo Crime Family?"

"I know they're primarily a west coast drug cartel," I said with a sigh. "When I got the job of bringing Manuel in I did some research. I don't think I understand why he would have put a hit on Giordano. I mean it doesn't make any sense to me that he would go from Vegas to Trenton without hitting anywhere in between and I couldn't find any information that would lead me to believe that he'd put a toehold in anywhere else."

Agent Goodman nodded, "do you know why your cousin agreed to do the bond?"

I sighed, "Yea, I do. Angelo DePrisi asked him to."

"Angelo DePrisi," he said softly. The two men exchanged a glance that spoke volumes. Unfortunately it wasn't in a language that I understood.

"Did your cousin ask you to handle the apprehension yourself?"

I laughed, "no, he didn't. Vinnie would have had a nervous breakdown if he'd known Connie let me have it. Let's face it, that apprehension was out of my league."

"But you handled it successfully," Agent Goodman reminded me.

"Yea well…I had an anonymous tip."

"From who," Agent Stinger leaned forward with a raised brow.

I blinked at him, "an anonymous tip is usually anonymous Agent Stinger." The man lifted his eyes to the ceiling in annoyance. "I have no idea who it was. Whoever it was disguised their voice. I couldn't even tell you if it was a man or a woman."

"And you have no idea who might want you to find him?"

"Of course I have ideas," I said with a smile as the waitress refilled my coffee. "I think anyone in the Giordano family would want him located and apprehended. On the other hand, why would they allow him to be apprehended? If they knew where he was it makes more sense they'd have done a hit on him. I can imagine they have other enemies that would have been willing to turn them in. But again, I think they'd be more likely to kill him."

"I'm sure that you're right," he sighed.

"So…why are you asking me these questions? I'm certain there are many other people qualified to answer those questions better."

He shrugged, "you have first hand knowledge of them. Manuel was talking about you in prison. It was worth checking out."

"So you're looking for Manuel?"

"We are," he agreed.

"Why do you think he'd still be in Trenton? Don't you think he'd go somewhere far, far away?"

The men exchanged another one of those looks.

Agent Goodman's eyes met mine and he smiled slightly, "we have no reason to believe that. We're just making sure to cover all the bases."

"Okay then," I nodded. "Are we done here?"

"Yes, we are done." He pushed his card across the table to me, "take my card. If you think of anything else that you believe may help us, give me a call."

"Sure," I agreed taking the card. I tossed a couple of dollars on the table for my coffee. "Nice to meet you both," I nodded and got up from the booth and headed out.

They were keeping information from me. I was sure about that. I wasn't exactly sure what they were keeping from me, but I suspected that they had the same feeling I did about Manuel…he was the one who put Ranger and me on the I-beam. I just didn't know what qualified that as something they were unwilling to discuss with me.

* * *

Weeks went by and I didn't hear from Ranger. One of the Rangeman employees followed me any time I wasn't at Rangeman. They stayed outside my apartment. I also saw the Crown Vic tailing me on many occasions. I felt pretty safe all things considered.

I had an especially long few days tracking a FTA at night and working at Rangeman during the day and I was exhausted. I hadn't slept in three days and even though I had brought my man in alive, I was beat. I came home and crawled into bed and immediately went to sleep.

I don't know what woke me up. I don't know if I heard something or if those damn hairs on the back of my neck woke me, but I woke up. The moment I woke up, I knew he was in the room. I didn't even roll over.

"How long have you been here?"

"About forty-five minutes," he said from the chair in the dark corner of the room. "I can't believe you didn't wake up Babe."

"I haven't slept for a while," I rolled to my back and squinted over toward him. I could see his legs, but that was all.

"Missed me so much you couldn't sleep," he smiled.

"Yea, that was it…or it could be the felon I was tracking for the last three days."

"Why are you tracking felons? I thought you were working for me now."

"I am working for you now. But Vinnie hasn't replaced me and you were gone so he needed the help. It kept me off the streets." I got up and went to the bathroom and when I returned I got back into bed with a sigh. "Are you just here to check on me or do you have some news?"

He moved like a cat from the chair to the bed and leaned over me, "maybe I just missed you."

"Ha," I gazed up at him, "if you missed me, you'd have called me."

"Not necessarily," he said softly and pushed the hair off my forehead, "I could have been protecting you."

"From what," I raised a brow.

"Manuel," he said softly.

"Ah," I nodded. "So which is it? Were you protecting me or did you just not miss me," I smiled up at him.

He sighed and his fingers moved over my face.

"Look, if you don't want to answer the question…"

He lifted his eyes to mine, "hmmm…I was protecting you and I missed you."

"I don't know that I'd believe you," I frowned up at him thoughtfully.

He slid his hand down my neck gently to my throat, "hmmm…now who doesn't want to deal with the truth?"

"That's the truth," I raised a brow.

"You're my first stop," he said softly.

I looked up and met his dark eyes, "you just got back?"

"I did," he agreed. "And like you, I am exhausted."

"Then why didn't you go home and get some sleep Ranger? I'd have still been here in the morning…probably still sleeping. I'm taking the morning off from Rangeman."

"I needed to satisfy myself," he traced my collar bone.

I swallowed, "what did you need to satisfy yourself regarding?"

He shrugged and remained noncommittal.

I sighed, "Okay. You really look tired Ranger."

"I am tired," he agreed.

"You need to sleep."

He sat up and started removing clothes.

"What are you doing?"

"You said I needed to sleep," he said tugging his tee shirt over his head.

"I didn't mean…" I stammered.

He stripped down to his pants and leaned back over me. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No," I sighed.

"Ah," he sighed tiredly, "I'm not going force myself on you Babe."

"I know," I whispered.

"Good," he said.

"Can you sleep like that…I mean in those pants?"

"It's not my first choice," he smiled and went to the bathroom.

"What is your first choice," I called after him.

"In you," he called back.

"Oh," I whispered and with the word the air just seemed to hiss out of me.

He lay down beside me when he returned, "I can sleep in anything. I prefer nothing."

"Oh," I blushed. "I just…I mean I wanted you to be comfortable. I forgot that you don't…I mean you aren't wearing…I mean…"

"That I'm commando," he raised a brow.

"Yea," I said miserably.

"Babe…even naked I think I'm too tired to touch you."

"You think…or you're sure?"

"If I say I'm sure, can I take my pants off?"

I swallowed and groaned and rolled over away from him.

"I can't handle it or you can't handle it?"

I lay there while he got comfortable and tried to come up with an answer that would not be a lie and still let me keep my dignity. But I couldn't think of anything. Finally in frustration I rolled over to face him, "Damnit Ranger it's almost three in the morning and I haven't slept in days…I can't exchange pithy jokes with you right now. I just don't…"

I didn't get to finish the sentence because his lips were on mine and his tongue was in my mouth. I moaned softly and opened my mouth wider to him and put my arms around his neck.

He pulled me to him and I quickly realized that he'd shed his pants and for the first time in a really long time I could tell just how well endowed he was south of the border. I didn't remember how enormous he really was.

The kiss ended as quickly as it began. He lifted his mouth and nibbled little kisses over my lips. "Goodnight Babe…sweet dreams."

"Yea," I swallowed, "goodnight Ranger." I pulled away from him and rolled over and struggled to get comfortable. It was too hard knowing he was naked and just a few inches away.

"Babe…," he finally said and dragged me back against his warm body, "go to sleep. I won't make love to you tonight."

I groaned softly and closed my eyes. Fortunately I was so exhausted that nothing would have kept me awake once I got comfortable…not even the erection against my ass. Finally with a soft sigh I slept.

I'd have been pleased to know that it took Ranger longer than it took me.

* * *

He was gone when I woke up and the only evidence that he'd been there was the fact that the covers on the other side of the bed had been disturbed. He also left me a note telling me that he didn't want people to know he was back. He was searching for Manuel underground. The less people who know he was there the better off we were. I agreed with that.

I slept till almost ten and when I did drag myself out of bed, I wasn't exactly full of energy. I got showered and dressed and headed off to Rangeman to work. I worked till six, then went to the grocery store with Tank hot on my tail.

Ranger called as I pushed the cart down the aisle. "Yo," he said softly.

"Yo," I smiled.

"Are you getting something for dinner?"

"Yep," I agreed not even slightly surprised that he knew I was at the grocery store.

"Get enough for me and I'll tell you what I've learned if you'll hold dinner till about ten."

"I can do that," I agreed, "Salmon okay?"

"Sounds great," he agreed. "I'll see you at ten…I'll bring the wine and the information."

"Sounds good," I agreed and hung up the phone. I got all the ingredients for a salad and some potatoes to go with the fish. I got some mushrooms and some ingredients to stuff them with. I debated and finally decided to get the ingredients for a killer dessert that I'd learned to make. It was comfort food when I was a kid. Mom called it dirt cake. Ranger needed dirt cake, I grinned to myself as I bought the gummy worms.

At home I hummed as I straightened the house. I changed the sheets on the bed and caught the laundry up. I watched some sitcoms on television. That was something I almost never did. I did a little recon. I made the dirt cake. I made the salad. I baked the potatoes. Just before he arrived I made the mushrooms.

I didn't even blink when his arms came around me and his lips buried in my neck.

"Dinner smells fantastic," he sighed.

"Thank you," I smiled. "I have to get the mushrooms out of the oven."

"You want me to let go?"

"You need to let go," I assured him. "The mushrooms may be the best part of the meal."

"Right," he nodded and released me. He reached into the cabinet for a couple of wine glasses and poured the wine and put the remainder of the bottle in the refrigerator. He sank to the stool at the bar to watch me.

I put the skillet of mushrooms on the trivet on the island and slid the salmon in the oven before sliding up on the stool and reaching for my glass of wine.

"You look as though the cooking classes have really paid off," he said

"We'll see about that when you've tasted it."

"You learned to cook in the Burg and yet…this doesn't have gravy all over it," he studied the mushrooms between us.

I laughed, "Well…I may have grown up in the Burg, but I learned to cook away from it." I spooned some mushrooms on a plate and put it in front of him. "Bon appetite," I smiled and served myself.

"They're beautiful too," he sighed.

I grinned and blew on the forkful of mushroom before putting it into my mouth and moaned as the flavors tickled my tongue. "Wait till you taste it."

"It looks great," he sighed.

I blew on the other half of my mushroom and offered him the fork, "Come on…a few mushrooms won't make you fat."

He took the bite and groaned, "oh my God. I taste crab and butter and olive oil…"

"Good job," I beamed at him, "also bread crumbs and some spices."

He sipped his wine. "Are we eating in here?"

"Just the appetizer," I smiled. "The table is set."

"What can I do to help?"

"It's under control," I assured him.

"It sure seems like it," he ate another mushroom. "If the salmon tastes anywhere nearly this good, I am going to have to give up the idea of not making a commitment and marry you."

I laughed, "Whoa…zero to ninety in three seconds."

He flashed a 200 watt smile, "too much too fast huh?"

"Oh yea," I agreed. We finished the mushrooms just in time. I took the salmon out of the oven and the bread and potatoes from the other oven. I let Ranger take the salad to the table and then the bread while I plated the rest. Then while he refilled our wine glasses, I took the plates to the table.

"Oh damn this is beautiful," he said as he took his place at the table.

"I told you that I could cook," I smiled. "And I didn't even set the house on fire."

"Does Val cook?"

"Oh yea," I nodded. "She can cook Cordon Bleu, although it appears that she's cooking Burg food these days."

"Gravy," he raised a brow.

"Gravy," I agreed.

"I've tasted the salmon and I'm shopping for rings in my head," he assured me. "I just want to know what the odds are that our children will be nuts too."

I grinned, "I don't know…Mom and Daddy are mostly normal… Maybe the next generation will go the other way."

"Maybe we'll only have one then," he said thoughtfully. "The second one is bound to be the nutso one."

"Hey," I made a face at him and slapped at his arm playfully.

"I don't mean you Babe."

"Right," I rolled my eyes.

"Damn genetics," he sighed.

"Besides, doesn't the DNA of the father have something to do with it? Wouldn't the father's DNA sort of dilute the mix," I grinned up at him.

"I'm not sure my DNA would dilute anything," he sighed.

After dinner and a quick cleanup, I got our dessert and we curled up on the sofa with his notes.

"Manuel left for Miami when I left for Miami. I've put extra detail on my daughter. I've also informed her grandfather, much against my best judgment, to keep an eye out as well. If he goes near Julie, her grandfather will kill him."

"It would solve our problem, but not in the way I'd like to solve it."

"Me either," he sighed. "It's not that I have a problem killing when necessary…I just think we can take Manuel without killing him."

"Sure," I nodded, "we've both done it before."

"Okay…this dessert…you're going to turn me into a sugar junkie."

I grinned, "Its good isn't it?"

"Disgustingly," he sighed. "I'll have to work out twice as long tomorrow."

"Don't worry; this is the low fat version."

"That's a relief."

"Okay…what else?"

"I lost him in Boca," he sighed. "He's gone underground. It may be a while before he surfaces and who knows what his mood will be then."

"I thought you said Ramon was the crazy one," I sighed and tucked my feet up under me. "I should have known when he didn't bat an eye when Ramon shot the two generals that Manuel was just as nuts."

"Yea…he is. He likes torturing…in weird ways. He's into sexual torture."

"Oh shit," I blinked.

"I think that's why he put us up on the I-Beam. He probably thought that would make us insane."

"Some of us already were," I muttered.

"Touché," he raised a brow. "Anyway…I think he's got big plans for us. I don't think he'll kill us fast if he can help it. He's having too much fun playing with us."

"Great," I got to my feet and took our bowls to the kitchen and started the dishwasher. "Do you want any more wine?"

"Sure," he nodded. "I don't have anything going on tonight."

I brought the bottle into the living room and filled our glasses. Then I sat back down and curled up again. "Is it my turn?"

"Your turn," he agreed sipping his wine.

"The construction company building the Prudential Building…"

"My favorite late night hang out," he interjected.

I grinned, "Yea…well it's a shell company for Forturo Inc. They've been channeling money into the company for years and bought thousand dollar hammers for just as long. You'd think they were the friggin' government."

"They're laundering the drug money in the construction company," he nodded. "Good move."

"Yea," I nodded. "And the company they're buying the equipment from is another shell company."

"Oh jeez," he rolled his eyes and leaned his head back against the couch. He looked over at me, "you've been a busy bee."

"Well…you know…I had to do my part."

"And you have," he nodded.

"I have more," I smiled. "The two shell companies are feeding into a third company owned by Ramon Investments in…guess…"

"The Grand Caymans," he raised a brow.

"Give the man a prize," I grinned.

He leaned over and kissed me, "Ummm…I want that one."

"And Manuel is now officially one of the FBIs ten most wanted. That was on the news yesterday."

"You sweet talker," he leaned back and smiled.

"And it has nothing to do with us. Chances are they'll be seizing the construction company and the equipment company very, very soon. That is going to force Manuel to head to the Caymans and then to somewhere he won't be extradited from. Who knows if how much the FBI has found out about the shell companies."

"God you're sexy when you're smart," he said and pushed me back against the cushioned arm of the sofa and leaned over me. He bent his head and kissed me hungrily.

I relaxed and kissed him back letting my hands creep around his neck and into his hair. I did love kissing him. Oh God I loved kissing him. And the kissing went on for quite a while.

He finally pulled back, "Babe…that was good work."

I smiled up at him, "but there's more."

"Oh God," he groaned and buried his face in my neck, "tell me more."

I arched my neck so he could reach better and sighed, "Manuel's wife…is in Trenton."

He jerked his head back, "Michelle is here?"

"Oh yea," I nodded. "I saw her getting her hair done at Mr. Alexander's three days ago. She also got a mani and a pedi. She's spending the money like it's no big deal."

"If she's here, he's coming back. He loves her. Manuel loves three things…money, Ramon and Michelle. My belief is that Michelle is first."

"And with Ramon gone…she's even more important to him."

"Babe this is big news," he kissed me again with a quick hard smack. "Most people don't like the leg work."

I grinned, "Well…if you want to do this job successfully you have to be willing to do the work."

"God you turn me on," he sighed.

I laughed, "Well…I have a feeling that any police officer or FBI agent could have the same effect on you."

"Oh yea…and don't forget spies. I fucking love spies."

"Who could forget spies," I agreed and stifled a yawn. "Oh yea…speaking of the Feds, I was questioned."

"By the Feds," he raised a brow at me.

"Yea, by a couple of Agents who are supposed to be looking for Manuel named Stinger and Goodman."

"The guys that were tailing you," he raised a brow.

"Yea," I yawned again. "I knew Lester had told you."

"Okay…you're still tired, so you're off the hook again tonight," he said gently and kissed my head and got to his feet.

"Off the hook," I raised a quizzical brow.

He grinned wolfishly, "Yea…your virtue will remain intact for another night."

"Oh," I blushed.

"Walk me out?"

I got up and let him pull me to the door.

"I'll call you tomorrow. In the meantime, we'll continue to keep this quiet. I don't want Manuel to know I'm back. If I stay underground I'll be able to get more information. I also don't think that he's interested in us right now for some reason, do you?"

"It certainly doesn't feel that he's still after us," I agreed and yawned again.

"Okay Babe…I'll talk to you tomorrow," he pulled me to him and kissed my head. "Good night and sweet dreams."


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

I woke up the next morning and headed off to Rangeman to work. The whole FBI involvement thing made sense to me. I even had a good idea about why they were tailing me. The thing that made no sense to me is that they didn't want me to know why. It seemed to me that it would be beneficial to them if I knew because I'd be more inclined to tell them what I really already know. The one thing I learned growing up in Trenton is that one hand washes the other.

When I pulled out of Rangeman to go home I headed to the grocery store. Ranger had already let me know that he'd be by for dinner again that night. Part of me was happy that he wanted to spend more time with me and another part of me wondered why.

Agent Goodman followed me into the grocery store and stopped me by the tomatoes. "Ms. Plum…how are you?"

"I'm fine Agent Goodman. How are you?"

"I'm good."

"Why are you guys following me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and your partner have been tailing me since the first night that Ranger and I spent on the I-beam. Why are you doing that? Do you think I know where Manuel is?"

He laughed, "No, we don't."

"Then why," I raised a brow.

"We're watching you for a couple of reasons."

"And you're not going to tell me why?"

"One is to keep you safe," he said lightly.

"Who are you keeping me safe from?"

He smiled and deep dimples popped out on either cheek, "Ms. Plum…let's be straight."

"My name is Stephanie, Agent Goodman," I said with a smile.

"And I'm Brian," he nodded. "Stephanie, we think Manuel is the person who put you on the I-beam. We think he's playing with you."

"I think that too."

"Why didn't you tell us that when we talked to you before?"

I shrugged, "probably because you weren't giving me any information."

He was quiet a moment, "I think I get where you're coming from."

"You tell me what you know and I'll tell you what I know, but if you keep information from me you can expect me to do the same thing."

He nodded in agreement. "I think Manuel is going to kill you because Ramon was killed in jail."

"Michelle is in town."

His eyes widened and I knew I'd given him a piece of information that he didn't already have.

"You didn't know that," I smiled serenely.

He made a face, "no, we didn't."

"You stand out in the Burg Agent Goodman."

"Brian," he reminded me.

"Brian," I nodded. "But you do stick out like a sore thumb. People here are not inclined to give information to outsiders and you are very definitely an outsider."

"How am I very definitely an outsider?"

"Face it, in this part of Trenton we're not really silver spoon."

He laughed and those dimples popped out again.

I'll be honest with you. If he hadn't already been so gorgeous that I was considering jumping him, the dimples might have done me in. He had a deep strong laugh that made me smile when he laughed. His white teeth stood out in his tanned face. He was so different from either Joe or Ranger. He was out of my league though. But in a way so were they.

"I appreciate that you believe that Stephanie."

"Are you going to tell me that you didn't go to college at Harvard or Yale," I raised a brow at him quizzically.

He shrugged, "okay…we stand out like a sore thumb."

"You do," I nodded.

He crossed his arms and frowned thoughtfully, "with Michelle in town, this makes things different."

"How so," I asked.

"It explains why he's not still chasing after you and Mr. Manoso."

"Right," I nodded.

"That's something to think about," he said quietly. "Call me if you learn anything else?"

"Call me if you do," I smiled.

"I will," he nodded.

"Okay," I said softly.

"I'll talk to you later," he started to walk away. He turned back, "Ms…I mean Stephanie…would you have dinner with me tonight?"

"I have dinner plans," I frowned thoughtfully. "How about we talk over lunch tomorrow?"

He straightened, "no…I'm tied up. I'll get back with you."

"Sure," I nodded and turned back to the tomatoes. Damn but he was hot.

* * *

When I got home I napped a little bit on the couch, then got up and started dinner. I decided on vegetarian lasagna with whole wheat pasta. It was good for you with enough flavors to seem bad for you. We still had dessert left from the previous night. I made a salad to go with it.

Again I was in the kitchen when Ranger arrived. Again he wrapped his arms around me.

"Smells good again," he whispered and buried his face again.

"Vegetarian lasagna with whole wheat pasta," I said softly.

"Ummm…can it wait?"

"Sure," I agreed.

He turned me around and picked me up and sat me on the counter and kissed me. He was wearing a suit.

"You look nice. Are you trying to blend in with the locals?"

"If I was trying to blend in with the locals I'd be wearing holey jeans and a ripped tee-shirt," he said drily. "I had a meeting in Baltimore."

"It went well," I smiled.

"It was fine. Now…how much time do we have?"

"Half an hour unless I turn it down."

"I think I'll talk while you cook, is that okay?"

"Sure…you can't talk and eat?"

"Maybe not, you're a good cook," he shrugged and picked a slice of cucumber out of the salad. "Okay," he leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. "Manuel was spotted in Atlanta this morning."

"He's on his way back," I sighed giving him a bowl of salad to keep him from starving.

"Thanks," he nodded picking up his fork. "So either he knows I'm back, or he's worried about Michelle."

"I doubt he knows you're back. Steph and Mom don't know you're back so he couldn't possibly. The Burgvine is way better than the mob vine," I grinned up at him.

"You're probably right," he smiled. "So…that means that he's worried about Michelle."

"Why is he worried about Michelle," I stopped and looked up at him. "She can take care of herself. I doubt he'd get his panties in a bunch because the feds are looking at them. He'd just send her out of the country. So…why," I frowned and stared down at my salad.

"I don't know," he sighed and reached for the wine. "I just know he's on his way back and something doesn't feel right here."

"Nothing in Trenton feels right to me," I rolled my eyes.

"Not even me," he raised a brow.

"You're definitely not feeling right…you're way out of my league Ranger."

He studied my serious expression without comment and sighed. "We need to figure out what's got Manuel so on edge. He left prison intending to play with us till he killed us, don't you agree?"

"You probably weren't the target then," I sighed. "It was probably me because of Ramon."

"I agree," he nodded. "Then he saw us together and decided to kill two birds with one stone and use some of his questionable humor to do it."

"Right," I agreed.

"So what's got his knickers in a twist?"

"I just don't know," I sighed.

"Me either," he agreed.

We ate dinner and talked about nonsense and he helped me clean the kitchen. He talked me into letting him stay overnight when we were both about to doze off on the couch during a baseball game.

He was asleep at three am and I was still awake against his chest breathing him in and thinking about our dilemma.

And then suddenly I sat straight up in the bed, "Ranger…Ranger," I pushed at his shoulder.

"What," he smiled and reached for me, "did you change your mind?"

"No…yes…maybe," I said flustered, "no…it's about Manuel."

"Manuel," he frowned.

"Ranger…just listen," I said seriously and bunched the sheet at my breast as I stared at him earnestly, "Manuel isn't afraid of us, would you agree to that?"

"Oh yea," he nodded.

"He's sure as hell not afraid of the Feds. The most he can get is prison time. If they could hang murder on him, he'd have already been charged and processed."

"True," he sat up to look down at me.

"He's hiding," I said softly as my eyes glistened. "He's worried about Michelle. Someone else is after him. Whoever hit Ramon is after Manuel. It's a power struggled in the Mexican syndicate. The Forturos have been running the show for ten years. Someone else wants them to go down. That's why I got such a great tip in Vegas. Someone on the inside gave it to me."

He frowned thoughtfully and gazed into the darkness ahead and ran his hands through his hair. "But Babe their two top generals are dead. If it was a power struggle from within it would stand to reason it was one of them."

"Maybe…but maybe it's farther down the food chain."

"It does make sense."

"He only came back to Trenton for Michelle," I reminded him. "It's for her he's coming. It's not for us. If it was about us, he'd be doing something to me and he hasn't touched me. He's got to be afraid for her."

"How did you figure it out?"

"Because he's fearless," I raised a brow. "He's always been fearless. The only thing he's afraid of losing is his family. He's figured out that someone from the inside is after them and he's coming back to take care of it."

"Who do you think it is?"

"I don't know," I sighed and flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "It's gotta be somebody good."

"Yea," he turned to look at me, "you're a genius."

"It's my spidey sense," I shrugged, "this is what I do. I get into their heads."

"God you're sexy," he rolled to face me.

"Yea," I smiled, "but you're still out of my league."

"Whatever you say," he sighed. "Go to sleep Babe. God knows what will happen tomorrow."

"God knows," I agreed.


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to read. I have a direction to the story. I'm one of those annoying writers who outline everything. I appreciate all of your kind comments. I'll do my best to continue to post regular chapters until this story is done and I'm ready to move on to the next saga of Stephanie's life as it exists in my imagination. Thank you again.

* * *

Agent Goodman called me the next morning and asked me to have lunch with him. I didn't have any new information to share with him, but maybe he had something for me. I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him Ranger was in town. I figured if he didn't know that he wasn't such a great Federal Agent. I may tell him we have Intel leading us to believe Manuel's on his way back to Trenton…and I may not.

I knocked on Ranger's office door and told him I was having lunch with Agent Goodman. He agreed that unless he offers us some information we don't offer him any. What can I say? It's a Jersey thing. He told me that he'd see me later and he'd bring dinner.

I walked into the new Bistro on Halifax and smiled at the hostess.

Brian waved at me from a table in the back, "thank you…I see him." I wove through the tables and sat across from him. This time he had a seat facing the door. I smiled to myself. "Good afternoon Agent Goodman."

"I thought I was Brian?" He stood and helped me into my chair with a smile.

"I'm sorry…you're right. How are you today Brian?"

"I'm good."

"What do I owe the pleasure of your company today?"

"No reason," he shrugged handing me a menu. "It's just easier to keep an eye on you this way."

I laughed, "You have me there." I opened the menu to study it. "So…this isn't about the Forturos?"

"May I be frank Stephanie?"

I lowered my menu to see his gaze on me. I was surprised. His look wasn't at all Federal Agentish. "Hmmm…sure, I find it's usually best to be frank."

"I find you intriguing."

"Stick around," I sighed picking my menu back up to study it. "You'll also probably find me tenacious, annoying, entertaining, meddlesome, stubborn, inept…"

"Why are you so hard on yourself," he said quickly interrupting me. "I've talked to a lot of people here and you're well liked and respected."

"I am huh," I raised a brow at him and put my menu down on the table. "If you asked about me at the police department they would probably tell you that I'd burned up or destroyed about fourteen cars in the last three years. They would tell you that on most days when I'm working fugitive apprehension I can be counted on for an explosion or at the very least an entertaining roll in the garbage. They would tell which pools were currently open for betting and give you a chance to get in.

"If you asked at my bank they would tell you that until I brought in the Forturos I was barely afloat and they'd say they're waiting for the bottom to drop out of my solvency. To be honest with you…so am I.

"If you asked my cousin Vinnie at his bail bonds office, he'd tell you that I was a joke as a bounty hunter who got by with a little help from my friends.

"My ex boyfriend would tell you that I was a disaster on two legs who needed to get over my ridiculous need to be a bounty hunter and settle down with some nice man and make a few dozen babies.

"If you asked my current boss…he'd tell you that I was a line on his spreadsheet listed as entertainment.

"If you asked my parents they would tell you that I needed to get a job at the button factory and stop this nonsense. They would also like me to get married and pop out a couple of dozen grandchildren. So…Brian…just who did you talk to?"

He sighed and reached across the table to put his large warm hand on mine, "all the people you mentioned. You'd be surprised how much they all actually care for you."

I didn't know what to say about that, so I kept my mouth shut. I mean really…what was going on with me.

He waited another minute as his fingers moved gently over the back of my hand and he was patient in waiting for me to meet his eyes. "I think you're pretty damn amazing."

I swallowed, "er…thank you."

"Not to mention the fact that you're extremely easy on the eyes."

I laughed. I couldn't help myself. "Yea well…you're totally hot."

He grinned, "See…that's why I asked you to lunch. You have good taste."

"Right," I shook my head and smiled at the menu. "Brian, you're a nice guy for a fed."

"Thanks Stephanie. You're a nice woman for someone who operates on the line of the law."

I laughed, "You have been talking to people about me."

"I certainly have," he agreed. "Do you know what you want?"

"Almost never," I sighed picking the menu back up.

"Really," he raised a brow and again waited for me to meet his eyes, "because I almost always know what I want. I should also tell you that once I know I want something, I tend to do my level best to get it."

I swallowed. I think Hottie Mc Federal Agent wants in my pants. I wondered how long I'd be able to say no to blue eyes. I didn't have a lot of practice with that.

When Ranger got to my house that night with dinner I had not learned anything more and neither had he. It seemed we had run up against a brick wall.

We ate dinner and chatted about our day. He told me about an ugly day courtesy of the federal government and a government witness. I told him about a FTA that made my life in Trenton the nightmare it was. Our sardonic smiles met over steamed vegetables.

I skimmed over my lunch with Brian just saying that he didn't give up any information pertinent to the case and neither did I.

After dinner we went into the media room and curled up on the couch with the television turned onto A&E and my now daily dose of crime TV and we went through our files on Forturo.

I glanced up in frustration just as a commercial came on for the next show which was one of my favorites, _**American Justice**_. They were doing a special on a murder that had occurred in Trenton with the famous Gamboni crime family. What drew my attention was not the crime, but the accused. They flashed film of the man accused of conspiracy and it was none other than Angelo DePrisi. It was the film of him entering the Trenton courthouse with his loving family that captured my attention. Walking beside him holding his seemingly feeble hand was Michelle Forturo.

"Holy mother of God," I whispered.

"What," Ranger lifted his head to see my stunned face.

I pointed to the television but the commercial was over. I pulled up the information on the show and read it. "I just saw Michelle walking into the Trenton Courthouse with Don Angelo DePrisi. She has to be part of his family."

"Michelle Forturo," he said with wide eyes.

"I think we need to watch a little television," I said seriously.

"I think you're right," he agreed.

My eyes narrowed and I almost snarled, "He knew and didn't tell me."

"He... He knew what," he frowned.

"Agent Goodman of the FBI who told me that he'd tell me what he knew. He withheld that part of his information. It obviously didn't show up on your Intel either. Who's hiding this information and why? And not only that…why didn't they alert the media?"

"All good questions," he said closing up the various folders scattered on the table in front of us.

"I'm going to get some wine," I huffed. "Do you want anything?"

"No," he shook his head. "I need to be able to concentrate."

I took notes throughout the show and when it was over I picked up my cell phone and made one call. I called Agent Goodman's cell phone and left a message. It wasn't that nice of a message. Ranger's brow actually went up.

"I think you made your point," he said quietly as we shut everything down to head to the bedroom.

"I hope so. I just fed that asshole the information about Michelle and how Angelo asked Vinnie to do the bail on Manuel. I was such a dumbass. All the time he's telling me that we'll share information and he's just pumping me for what I know. I fucking fell for it. I swear to God, good looking men are nothing but trouble." I pulled my clothes off and tossed my clothes toward the laundry basket angrily. "I would advise him not to come to me for anything else ever again. And I sure hope he doesn't ask me for any favors. I don't have any more left to give."

"Babe," he took me by the arms and gazed down into my angry blue eyes, "you have to let this go. There's nothing you can do about it. His hands were probably tied."

"If they were tied fucking _**American Justice**_ wouldn't have that information," I glared at him.

"That's a good point," he nodded. "But Babe…"

"Don't defend him," I said seriously.

"I'm not going to. I just know that if you're angry you'll have a hard time sleeping tonight."

I sighed, "I am angry."

"I know," he agreed rubbing my arms.

"Change my disposition," I raised a brow at him in challenge.

"How would you like me to do that?"

"You can't think of a way?"

A small smile turned up the corners of his mouth, "you're the only woman in the world that would have sex when she's angry."

I shrugged, "I..."

He picked me up and turned and laid me on the bed, "are you sure about this Babe. The stakes stay the same. I'm still not ready to commit and you still want a commitment."

I sighed, "fuck."

"Is that an expletive or an invitation?"

"That first thing," I sighed.

"I had a feeling you were going to say that," he sighed and rolled to his back. "You know Babe, I'd give you more if I could."

"Right," I closed my eyes and swallowed back my tears. It was same old, same old. I would continue to fall into the same patterns of behavior forever unless I got over him. I could love Ranger till the cows came home, but it didn't mean that he'd ever love me back. I rolled to my side and he curled around me and pulled me against him.

"You know I love you the only way I can," he said kissing my ear.

"But it's not enough," I whispered over the tears wondering for the millionth time if I'd said that outloud or if he was a damn good mindreader.

"I know," he said tiredly. "I know."

Hours later I was staring up at the ceiling and he was sleeping. I was lying on my side with my head on his arm and my hand on his flat muscular stomach. My fingers traced imaginary patterns on his skin as I thought about things. I wasn't mad any more. I was sad. It's hard to be in love with someone who just can't love you back in the same way.

In any case, that wasn't what I was thinking about. I was awake and thinking about how Agent Goodbody had withheld information from me. Why had he done that? It made me insane. I wanted to go to sleep, but I was still awake and my mind was still going.

I sat straight up and pushed gently against Ric's shoulder, "wake up."

"You can't sleep like normal women, can you," he said groggily.

I turned to him in confusion, "what?"

"Why did you wake me up," he raised a brow and yawned.

"We know that Manuel suspects someone is trying to take his business right?"

"Right," he agreed.

"What if he thinks it's the DePrisi family?"

He sat up in surprise.

"Who better," I raised a brow.

"The DePrisis haven't really been in drugs. The Furturo's are primarily drug runners."

"I thought the DePrisi's didn't believe in drugs. I thought they were of the opinion that running drugs was a crime?"

"They have been on record as believing that," he nodded.

"But what if that's where the money is Ranger? What if Angelo knows that and he arranged this marriage between Michelle and Manuel with the hope that the two crime families would merge? And what if when that failed to happen, he decided to make it happen?"

"With Michelle in the middle," he sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"She may or may not know what's going on. But if Manuel has figured that's the way it is…then don't you think it's possible that he suspects she's part of it especially since she's here in Trenton."

"You don't think they're in communication," he raised a brow.

"I just don't know," I sighed. "I think it's worth following up though, don't you?"

"I do," he agreed.

"I'm sorry I woke you up."

"I just wish you'd get these genius epiphanies early in the evening," he grinned dragging me back down and kissing me.

"Me too," I sighed. "I mean a girl needs her beauty sleep."

"If you wake me up again Babe…there will be a penalty involved."

"How big will the penalty be?"

"It will be multiple big," he leered at me wolfishly.

"Oh damn," I blinked.


	12. Chapter 12

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

Morning came early for me since I didn't sleep much. I called in a favor with someone at Trenton PD and they got me a copy of the American Justice story that very morning delivered via the Internet. I tell you what…modern technology is a wonderful thing.

I sat at my desk and watched each frame of the docudrama and made notes. I scowled for a half an hour when I recognized Agent Goodbody's partner Agent Stinger as one of the agents who testified against DePrisi at that trial. That really pissed me off. He knew all along about that connection. He was surprised that DePrisi asked Vinnie to get Manuel out of jail…my ass!

I made my first phone call to Connie. She confirmed that Michelle was a relative. She was his Granddaughter. DePrisi had been blessed with two legitimate daughters. Both of his daughters married inside his company. Michelle's father had been killed in a hit when she was a child. Her mother remarried shortly after Angelo went to prison for IRS violations. When they couldn't get him for conspiracy to commit, they did what they always do and relied on the IRS to bail them out. In Trenton, it was laughable to the residents.

Rumor had it, according to Connie, that DePrisi had another three illegitimate daughters. Nobody knew who or where they were. I sure hoped that I wasn't one of them.

My second call was to Joe. He was working Special Crime Unit. I wanted to know if he knew that Michelle was Angelo's granddaughter. He did. I also managed to ascertain that he knew that the feds were in town and that they were searching for Manuel. He was polite to me. He didn't mention that he thought Manuel had been the one to put Ranger and I up on the I-beam, but by that point, he really didn't have to.

My next phone call was to Mary Lou. She always knew about the relationships of various mobsters and their families around Trenton. She especially knew about their clandestine relationships and if a baby was born on the wrong side of the sheets, you can bet that Mary Lou knew about it. She assured me that I wasn't one of Angelo's illegitimate daughters. According to her, all three lived in Boca…out of sight and out of mind. She said that the only Italian woman in Trenton more frightening than Joe Morelli's Grandma Bella was Angelo DePrisi's wife Magda. She assured me that Magda was big time scary.

The more information I got, the angrier I got. It wasn't a real conspiracy since there were plenty of people in Trenton in who knew that there was a connection, but nobody and I do mean nobody was telling me anything about it. They should have been telling me. I was friggin born there. I had a stake in this. It was annoying.

By the time I marched into Ranger's office at eleven, I was not only raging angry, but I was armed with facts out the wazoo and I wanted someone to pay for keeping secrets.

"Before you blow up," Ranger said softly, "let's think about what this means."

I sighed. "All right…what does it mean?"

"I think it means we're about to have a war here in Trenton."

I sat back in my chair, "oh shit."

"If Manuel thinks that DePrisi is behind this…he's going to go after him and that means war. Manuel will bring all the west coast drug cartels here to battle with the Italian mobsters. It's not going to be pretty."

I swallowed, "I need to get my family out of town."

"We'll take care of that. We'll get you and your family out."

"I didn't say me Ranger."

"I need you to be safe."

"Are you leaving?"

He raised a brow at me.

"If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving."

"You won't have a choice," he said shortly.

"Are you going to make me," I got up from my chair and leaned on his desk on my palms. "Are you going to make me Ranger?"

"If necessary," he said and the mask was well and truly in place.

"I can't wait to see you try," I glared at him. "You don't own me Ranger. You won't commit to me…remember. My life is my own to do with as I please. If I choose to stay and fight, I will do that."

"No…you won't," he got up and left the office.

I trailed him down the hall in fury not really caring who saw us or heard the conversation. "You're not my father Ranger. You can't tell me what to do."

"You're my employee," he reminded me.

"Then fire my ass," I hissed at him. "Because you only control me where my work is concerned," I stopped following him. "Let me know how WE are going to proceed with this information."

Every available man (and me) was summoned into the conference room and we were given our directives. We were to fan out and start gathering Intel about who was new in town and those of us with computer skills were tracking the remaining generals of the Forturo family as well as members of other cartels who may be on their way to Trenton.

By six pm, the atmosphere inside Rangeman was grim. It appeared that Manuel's army was on its way. Things were only going to get worse.

I laid my forehead on the smooth cool mahogany of the conference room table and sighed in frustration. A war appeared almost inevitable.

Tanks hand slid over my back as he dropped into the chair beside mine. "Ranger's on his way. We're going to make a decision."

I nodded. "Should I…?"

"You need to stay," Ranger said crisply as he sat down at the head of the table. "Our Intel suggests that a war is coming. We have to decide what to do."

"We need to get people out of harm's way," Tank said seriously.

"We need help doing that," Lester said joining us at the conference room table. "I mean I'm not sure the National Guard is going to be strong enough to stop this war."

"In any case, do we really have the power to call them in," I raised a brow.

Ranger met my eyes coolly, "you'd be surprised. What would you do Stephanie?"

Stephanie? What the fuck? "Er…I'd call Trenton PD and the Feds in here and share what we know. Individually we can't stop this, but maybe if we pool our resources we can make a difference."

The men exchanged grim glances. Once again it was a language that I didn't understand.

"I'll invite them here at nine tomorrow morning. We share all," Ranger said briskly. He picked up his notebook and strode out of the conference room.

I lay my forehead back on the table.

"You should go home and get some sleep," Tank suggested.

Bobby stuck his head into the conference room, "the boss is moving everyone into the building. Steph…you want to get some clothes and Rex and move into one of the vacant apartments on four?"

"Is everyone doing it," I asked.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Then I'll do it."

By the time I packed a bag and got back to Rangeman it was almost eleven o'clock. Ella had fixed me up one of the apartments and stocked it for me. I collapsed on the sofa and stared at Rex. "This is fucked up Rex," I sighed.

His whiskers twitched in agreement. He knew what was up. I could tell. I may not understand man speak, but I do understand Hamster speak. They're just not that complicated.

My cell phone rang and I recognized Agent Goodman's number. I considered not answering it, but in the end curiosity won out.

"Agent Goodman," I said coolly as I answered.

"I thought I was Brian," he said softly.

"That was before I knew that you were withholding information," I said tiredly. "What do you want?"

"Will you be at the meeting tomorrow?"

"I will," I agreed. "And I'll be sharing information…not withholding it."

He sighed heavily, "I have no choice Stephanie. There are things that I've been told not to share."

"You probably should have mentioned that to American Justice," I said tightly.

"My superiors probably should have known that it was futile to keep that particular information under wraps and therefore should have allowed me to share it."

"Careful Agent…I'll think you're not a fan of Bureau red tape."

"You'd be right," he said seriously. "If I could have told you…I would have."

"Let's see if you're as forthcoming tomorrow, shall we?"

"Steph…I like you. I am not trying to play games with you. I really wish we'd met in other circumstances."

"Agent Goodman…we're not on the same playing field."

"Why do you say that?"

"Your father is Senator John Goodman?"

"Yea," he agreed.

"Well…my father drives a cab."

"You're a snob?"

"I am not a snob," I said softly. "But I already married above my station once and it didn't work out."

"Dickie Orr was not above your station," he said seriously.

"His family was," I sighed.

He was quiet a moment, "I'm not talking marriage **yet** Stephanie. I'm just saying that I like you and I'd like to get to know you better and maybe we could see where this goes."

I bit the inside of my mouth, "I don't know Brian."

"That's a little better," he sighed.

"There's a lot going on in my life. I'm not sure…"

"Just think about it," he said quietly. "You'll have some time. We have this whole Forturo thing to resolve first."

"True," I shook my head with a slight smile.

"All right, I'll see you tomorrow at nine."

"Yea…tomorrow," I sighed and hung up. I got up and took a long hot shower and changed for bed. I fed Rex and checked to see where Ella had put my things when she put them away. Everything was easy to find.

The apartment was larger than my one bedroom had been when I'd lived in my rent control apartment. But compared to my house, it was miniscule. It would take some getting used to. I had grown accustomed to my luxuries.

Ella had made sure my refrigerator was stocked. It was stocked with my new food likes but had some of my old standbys as well. There were several containers of Ben & Jerry's in there including a pint of Brownie Fudge Sundae. I grabbed the pint and a spoon and collapsed on the sofa again thinking about all that had happened lately.

I had eaten half the container when there was a quiet knock on my door. "Come in."

"You didn't check," Ranger said quietly.

"I'm safe at Rangeman, aren't I?"

"One would think," he agreed.

"What's up?"

"We've arranged for your family to be the recipients of a lovely trip to Disney World all expenses paid."

"Thanks Ranger. They wouldn't go if we told them straight up."

"I know," he nodded. "I've heard back from TPD and the FBI and they'll be there tomorrow."

"Agent Goodman told me I'd see him there."

"Agent Goodman," he raised a brow.

"One of the Feds," I sighed. "He called to let me know he'd be there."

"Really," his eyes narrowed in speculation.

"Yea," I sighed.

"I'll let you get your rest. You're going to need it."

"Yea, I am."

"Ice cream Babe," he sighed and tapped the container.

"You should try it," I held up a spoon full of ice cream to him. "It's full of chocolaty goodness."

He shook his head.

"What's a matter," I raised a brow at him, "are you afraid of a little ice cream? Will your temple be destroyed if you eat it?"

He shook his head and sank down beside me and took the bite of ice cream.

"It's good isn't it?"

"It's okay," he shrugged.

"Men just don't understand."

"It's been a while since you've eaten any of this," he said softly.

"I have a lot on my mind," I sighed.

"Babe…it's going to be okay," he assured me tucking a curl behind my ear.

"I hope you're right," I leaned against him and let his solid warmth permeate my body. "I hope you're right."

"Me too," he whispered as he kissed my head, "me too."


	13. Chapter 13

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

At eight-thirty I was showered, dressed and on my third cup of coffee. I had all my notes typed and compiled into a neat folder. I was ready for the meeting. I was ready for what was next. At least I thought I was.

I headed for the conference room. If I knew Ranger, he would have people set up to sit in certain places. There would be placards or something. There was Hal. Hal was at the door and as people arrived he was seating them. Ella had set up a buffet filled with coffee, juice, tea, croissants, bagels, fat free pastries and various fruits on one end of the room. It looked delicious. I refilled my coffee and took my seat on Ranger's left. It was the seat that had been assigned me.

Tank stuck his head into the conference room and beckoned to me. I went to the hall.

"What's up?"

"Ranger wants to see you in his office before our guests arrive."

"Okay," I agreed walking down the hall to his office with my folder of information and coffee in hand. I tapped lightly and pushed the door open at his 'come in.' "Tank said you wanted to see me," I said sinking to the chair in front of his desk.

"Yea," he nodded. "I've been thinking. You're aware that I have a history with the Trenton Police Department that probably wouldn't be considered favorable."

I nodded. Everyone I knew was suspicious of Ranger. They were sure he operated on the wrong side of the law.

"You have already spoken to the Feds several times and it seems that you've built up a rapport. I think, under the circumstances that you should conduct the meeting. The truth is Babe, it's your case."

I was surprised. "Are you saying that you want me to run the meeting?"

"I'm saying that you did most of the legwork. You deserve the opportunity to present our findings."

I took a deep breath. "What if we work a compromise here? What if I start and you finish? I can present the findings, but you're really more of a find a solution kind of guy."

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, "I can do that."

"Thank you Ranger. I appreciate your confidence," I whispered.

"You earned it," he said seriously.

"All right then," I got to my feet.

"Wait here till they're all in there. We'll create a better entrance if we go in as a united knowledgeable front."

At exactly nine o'clock we entered the conference room. The room buzzed with masculine voices that quieted the moment we entered the room. I thought it was the Black outfits. But it could just be that Ranger has presence.

"Gentlemen," he said seating me in my chair, "thank you for coming today. We're here today because it is our opinion that we have a common enemy. The common enemy would include the West Coast Drug Cartels and the East Coast Traditional Families. It is our opinion that we're about to be in real trouble here in Trenton. I'm going to turn the first part of the meeting over to Stephanie Plum. She's the one who's gathered most of the information you're about to hear." He turned to me, "Babe."

I got to my feet and took a deep calming breath and I began to talk. I told them about my apprehension of Manuel and Ramon and how that went down. I told them about my informant and how I wasn't even able to ascertain whether it was a man or a woman who had made the call. I told them about everything and I got up on the white board and I made a timeline of Manuel's visits to Trenton and how everything tied together.

"So what we're seeing here is that Manuel Forturo has only been in Trenton a handful of times in his life. The first was to meet Michelle's family. The second was for his wedding to Michelle eight years ago. The next was when they returned for her sister's wedding. It was then that Manuel was accused of conspiring to kill Alfonse. The next time he was here was when he was apprehended." I turned to the men in frustration. "If Manuel meant to skip out on his bond, why was he in Trenton? I don't believe he did."

"What do you suggest then Ms. Plum," Agent Stinger raised a brow at me. Everything about his stance from his scowling expression to his crossed arms told me that his mind was closed to what I was suggesting.

"I suggest that Manuel was here to show up for his hearing. I suggest that he was given bad information on what day it was. I suggest that he was set up."

There was silence for a moment then they all started talking at once.

"Gentlemen," I said. "Gentlemen," I tried again but louder.

Tank whistled loudly and they silenced.

"Thank you Tank," I nodded toward him. "I think Manuel was framed by someone in the DePrisi organization. It is my belief that Angelo arranged the marriage of Michelle and Manuel in order to merge the two crime families. The money these days is in drugs. Angelo wants in." I watched their faces. "I don't think that Manuel was interested in merging their businesses. I believe that he married for love. When things didn't turn out the way Angelo wanted them to…he changed the path. He framed Manuel for the Giordano attempt…virtually killing two birds with one stone. And then had Ramon killed in prison. Fortunately for him Ramon had killed the two generals already which saved him some trouble. I suspect that Ramon and Manuel had already come to the conclusion that someone was setting them up from inside the organization. I believe that is why the generals were assassinated. I think Ramon was eliminating some of the suspects."

"So you believe that Angelo DePrisi wants to get involved in drugs," Joe said with a smirk. "They don't do that Stephanie."

"Correction," Ranger said getting to his feet, "they didn't do that. They do that now. Our Intel shows," he nodded toward Lester and Hal who began to pass out booklets and Hal dimmed the lights, "that Angelo not only wants in on drug running…he's already testing the waters. What better way to frame Manuel than to kill someone who was already in Angelo's way." He turned toward the slide show that appeared on the screen behind him. If you've been in Trenton on police business you are sure to recognize some of the men in these pictures. You'll also see that they're clearly not making book."

There was a long silence while the photographs were studied. Everything we had suggested made sense. DePrisi's men were selling drugs. The lights came back up and the Trenton Police Department's finest looked stunned. The Federal Agent appeared a bit less surprised…at least Brian Goodman appeared less stunned.

Brian cleared his throat, "let's assume Mr. Manoso that we believe you and Ms. Plum are correct about DePrisi…why are we here?"

Joe blinked at the Agent in astonishment.

Ranger cleared his throat and paced for a few moments in the front of the room. "It is our belief based on Intel that there's about to be a war here in Trenton. We believe that Manuel has called in his troops and we're expecting them to come in along with several members of their partner cartels and go against Angelo and the bosses in Trenton. If that happens, the fallout to innocent people will be disastrous."

"A war," Brian muttered.

"A war," Ranger agreed. "I know that my men and I are trained professionals, but I don't think we are strong enough in number to contain this. I also don't believe that the TPD is equipped to handle it. I'll be honest with you Agent Goodman…I think it's going to take more than the collective resources in this room to keep this from happening."

Brian sat back in chair.

Joe cleared his throat, "we're talking guns blazing and all that sort of thing."

"We're talking a war zone. Trenton will become the new Baghdad."

Joe's boss spoke up, "the mayor won't even ask for assistance from the governor until the thing is under way. Our hands are tied on that end."

"I'm not sure that our department will be able to assist that much either," Brian said seriously. "What do you recommend at this point Mr. Manoso?"

"More Intel," he said seriously. "And we need to do our damnedest to capture Manuel. We need to bring Angelo and Michelle in for questioning and see if we can get to the bottom of Manuel's little company problem. If we can solve it, we may be able to stop the war."

"We need to combine forces and resources," Brian nodded.

"We do," Ranger agreed.

"And this time," I said grimly and met Brian's eyes, "there can't be any holding back."

He had the good grace to look sheepish.

From then the meeting was mostly chatter about the two agencies being given the sanction to work with Rangeman. We'd already done most of the leg work. Surely they could see that we were on their side. In the end, we separated and the members of the two government agencies promised to get in touch soon and let us know where we all stood.

"That's it," I sighed when just Ranger and I were alone in the conference room.

"That's it for now," he nodded. "Now we wait."

"I'm not really good at waiting Ranger."

He grimaced and sighed heavily, "tell me something I don't know."


	14. Chapter 14

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

The day just dragged. I tried to keep busy. I had plenty of research to do. I was a bit behind because of other things that had been going on. Then I started getting into a really intense search on someone for Tank and I have to admit I got lost in it.

Warm hands rubbed gently on my shoulders, "Babe…you need to stop for the day."

"What time is it," I squinted at the clock through my tired and bleary eyes.

"It's after seven," he said as he rubbed.

"Oh crap," I glanced around the open research room. There was nobody there. "I lost track of time. Did we hear anything yet?"

"Nothing," he said seriously.

"Crap," I sighed.

"Come on up and have dinner with me. We'll talk about it."

"Sure, just let me shut down here and drop by and feed Rex. Honestly…if you'd give me a little more time, I'd love a shower."

"Sure…meet me upstairs at eight?"

"That sounds good," I agreed.

I shut down the computer and went down to my apartment on four with a sigh. The halls were more noisy than usual. There were a lot of doors open and I could hear music and laughter coming from the rooms. When I passed a couple of the doors I saw some people I didn't recognize. I figured out that some of the men had brought their families in. I nodded in approval.

I cleaned Rex's cage and fed him. Then I took a hot shower ending with a few moments of cold. I was tired. It seemed like I hadn't slept in forever. Maybe it was just that I hadn't slept well in forever.

I threw on a pair of pink sweat shorts that declared I was SWEET across the bottom and a little white tee shirt that echoed the sentiment in the same pink. Since I was only going upstairs I had no need to dress up. I didn't even bother with more than flip flops. I probably looked like I was getting ready to head to the beach. It was now September in Trenton and starting to cool down. If I was going outside I'd need long pants and a jacket, but inside I was fine with shorts and a tee shirt. Rangeman was kept comfortable throughout.

I left my apartment a little early in case I got held up. I waved into the various rooms as I passed on my way back to the elevator. Just as I suspected I was stopped a couple of times to meet a member of someone's family. It was always a bit surprising to see that any of those men actually had mothers. I mean they didn't have necks. There was a part of me that thought they'd probably been cloned somewhere in a fire pit much like the Orcs in **The Lord of the Rings**. I liked the short chats. I was gracious but kept my eye on the clock. I told them I was heading upstairs to talk to Ranger. They understood.

At a few minutes before eight I used my key fob to gain access to the seventh floor and Ranger's private apartment. When I stepped off the elevator he was there waiting for me.

"Is this a coincidence," I asked with a smile.

"No…you've gotten to the point that you're punctual almost to a fault," he said with a small tilt of one corner of his mouth.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not to my way of thinking." He stepped aside and let me precede him into the apartment.

"It smells delicious."

"It's some sort of chicken," he shrugged.

"Well, it smells great," I turned back to him. "Why haven't we heard anything Ranger? Don't they realize what we're dealing with here?"

He tugged me into his arms and rested his chin on my head, "they realize. Their hands are tied. They have to get clearance from higher up to use us."

"For God's sake Ranger, the federal government has been using you for a decade or more."

He sighed, "Yea…but this is a little different from a black ops job."

"Black ops," I muttered.

"Why don't we eat? We can't change anything…so we may as well eat."

"Like the condemned man eating his last meal?"

"No…like we have to wait a few days for them to dig through all the red tape so we may as well enjoy a few good meals in the meantime."

I shrugged, "I'm not a patient person."

"I think we've established that Babe."

The food was excellent. We talked little as we ate. And afterwards, it was his lucky day…there was a baseball game on. It sort of had my attention. That protected him from my unreasonable angst. We sank on his comfortable leather couch and I don't know if I made it to the fourth inning before I was asleep against his warm body.

I woke up hours later in the dark startled from a nightmare that was all too real. Trenton had been a war zone. Bombs and gunfire were the way of life. The streets were blackened with damage and crawling with tanks and Hummers. It was my worst fear at that point. But I wasn't alone. I was in Ranger's bed with his warm male body against mine. I sighed and got up and went to the bathroom.

I studied my face in the mirror as I washed my hands. What if this was the last day I'd be on the earth? What if the war broke out and I was a casualty? Would I regret that I'd kept him at arm's length or would I be glad I'd held my ground? It's hard to make decisions when you love but don't get what you need back. I sighed and leaned on the sink letting the choices whisper through my tired mind. I had a feeling that I wasn't really capable at that moment of making a good decision, but I also had a feeling that if I didn't make a decision when I felt this vulnerable, I'd forever be wondering what if…

I went back to bed and lay there gazing sightlessly at the ceiling. Flashes of the nightmare kept coming into my consciousness and I winced at the realness of it. Was it a foretelling of things to come, or simply the worst case scenario that wouldn't leave my fevered mind alone.

Ranger sighed and reached for me and tugged me against him, "you need to sleep Babe. You're not sleeping enough."

"I know," I sighed and let my body relax into his. He was so warm and he felt so solid. It made me feel so safe. I rolled into him and buried my face in his neck. God, he smelled so good. It turned me on just to smell him. Was this really something I wanted to say no to?

His arms tightened for a moment and then relaxed. "Are you okay?"

"It was just a dream," I sighed in his neck. When I sighed, he moaned. It was barely audible…but I heard it. I also felt the change in his body as he became immediately aroused. I felt a bit powerful in that moment and snuggled closer. He moaned again and I kissed his warm neck with open lips.

"Babe," he groaned.

"Yes Ranger," I whispered scattering more kisses along his warm neck.

"Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"I don't want any what ifs."

"I don't understand," he frowned.

"Never mind," I said as my lips moved over his jaw.

"If we do this…"

"If we do this nothing," I shrugged. "You aren't committing to me and I'm not committing to you. You don't love me like that."

"Babe…," he frowned as my hands moved down his body.

"It's okay, I have no expectations," I said softly. "We're just…having sex."

"Not making love," he whispered the question.

"You can't make love unless you love," I reminded him lightly.

He rolled me to my back and met my sad eyes in the dim light, "you're not being fair."

"How much more fair do you want me to be," I asked seriously. "I'm telling you that I am accepting your terms. We are making no commitment. We aren't making any promises. There's no ring…just a condom. You do have a condom?"

He made a face at me, "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

My fingers wrapped around his throbbing erection, "I think it's a very good idea. And I am pretty sure that you don't even have the majority vote in your own body."

He groaned and bent his head to kiss me hungrily, "I don't want to regret this," he whispered against my lips.

"Then don't," I sighed.

We made love for hours. It didn't help my lack of sleep situation, but it certainly did make it easier to put off buying that new shower massage. I told him we were only having sex, but it felt like lovemaking. At least it felt like lovemaking the first two times. I know I screamed his name a few times. I am pretty sure that I told him I loved him. I'm also pretty sure it wasn't new information to him.

I woke up naked and alone in his big bed the next morning. I luxuriated for a moment in his million count sheets then got up with a sigh. I went to the bathroom and took a long shower. I had used muscles I hadn't used in a really long time. I ached a bit. Even with my new workout regime, there were muscles used in sex that weren't really used at other times.

When I got out of the shower I heard my phone ringing and ran into the bedroom to grab it still wrapped in a towel.

"Yo," I said breathlessly.

"Good morning Stephanie," Brian said cheerfully.

"Good morning Brian," I said softly and sank to the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry we didn't get back to you yesterday. You have no idea what we have to go through to get you dialed in to what we know."

"I'm sure it's miles of red tape," I bit my lip thoughtfully.

"At least," he chuckled. "Anyway…we've gotten the unofficial word and the official word can't be far behind. So…it looks like we're partners."

"Ah," I nodded.

"We'll be working very closely together on this I think."

"I'm sure we'll have to," I agreed.

"It means that I won't be able to ask you out until this is all over," he sighed.

"Ask me out," I squeaked.

"You know…it's one of those rituals in polite society. A single man calls a single woman he's developed an interest in up on the phone and asks her to dinner and a movie. At the end of the evening there's a chaste kiss and each of them is left wondering what the other thinks...when it goes well."

"And when it doesn't go well," I smiled.

"Then she's on the phone to her friends telling them everything that's wrong with the Bozo in question," he added.

"I doubt you've ever been the Bozo in question at any time," I reassured him.

"You'd be surprised," he laughed.

"I would be," I agreed.

"Anyway…if we're working together in an official capacity I won't be able to ask you to take part in that particular mating ritual."

"I see," I nodded.

"But once it's done and over…I'll be all over it."

I blushed, "Brian…"

"Are you going to tell me that I'm wasting my time? I already saw how you were looking at Manoso and I've been warned off by someone."

"Someone warned you off," I frowned.

"He told me that he was trying to save me from a few headaches."

"Joe Morelli," I suggested.

"You're good," he said in surprise.

"We used to be engaged."

"Ah," he said in understanding. "So…is he wrong?"

"About what," I frowned.

"About you and Manoso," he said patiently.

"Ranger doesn't do relationships," I said tiredly.

"Oh," he said shortly. "Do you do relationships?"

"Yea…I do," I sighed.

"Then…when this is over…"

"When this is over, we'll talk about it," I said quietly. I looked up and met Ranger's dark gaze.

"Okay then," he said cheerfully. "I better get back to work. I'm doing my damnedest to push this through."

"Okay then," I sighed. "Goodbye Brian."

"Goodbye Stephanie."

I clicked off the phone and tossed it on the bed.

"Brian?"

"Agent Goodman," I said softly.

"What does he want?"

"He was letting me know that they've been given the unofficial word to dial us in. He says he's pushing for the official word."

"Is that all he wanted?"

"No," I sighed. "But it's the only thing that's relevant."

"And was last night relevant Stephanie?"

I winced when he said my name. "Has your stance on relationships changed?"

"No," he said softly as his eyes narrowed on mine.

"Then how relevant could it have been," I said softly. I got to my feet and started toward the bathroom.

He caught my arm in his, "how can you say it wasn't relevant? You said you loved me."

"Yea well," I whispered as I fought the tears, "you didn't return the favor." I pulled away and went into the bathroom and closed the door. There were no what ifs anymore. This time it had been my choice. I hadn't felt coerced or required or even so desperate that I had to do it. I made a choice. He hadn't pushed me. We were even now. My cards were on the table.

The ball was in his court.


	15. Chapter 15

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

The official word from Trenton PD and the FBI came just before noon that day. It came in a way that made Ranger just a tad bit uncomfortable. They moved in. They moved in and set up headquarters in the conference room. Agent Goodman and Agent Stinger moved into an apartment on the fourth floor. Joe and a couple of the cops moved in to another couple of apartments. This was not exactly what Ranger had in mind.

I had given up my temporary apartment and moved upstairs with Ranger. He told me it was because he needed the room. I wasn't sure it wasn't because he didn't trust me on the floor with Joe and Brian. Who knows what he thought. The mask was in place.

The conference room had a new name. It was now referred to as Command Central. All the awards and photographs and art came off the walls and peg boards and white boards went up. There were maps and hundreds of pictures. At any moment you could walk into that room and a dozen or so men would be in there going over notes or manning the phones.

Ranger's men were out doing most of the recon. They weren't associated with the police. As a matter of fact, the police and the feds had entered the facility in the cover of night driven by Ranger's employees in Rangeman vehicles. None of their vehicles were in the garages. To an outsider looking in, it seemed business as usual.

I spent my days in Command Central on a computer that the FBI had put in. Brian showed me how to access some programs that Rangeman didn't have access to. I'm not sure this was what the FBI had in mind when they opened the doors up to us, but it certainly ensured that they weren't withholding any information from us.

Three times a day we had meetings to add new evidence or suspicions to our data. We knew where we stood. Ranger, Joe and Brian conducted these meetings together. I just sat back and watched in fascination. They were such different men and yet there were things about them that were so similar it was eerie. They were all about the same height. They all had dark hair. They all had incredible bodies.

I admit it, I sometimes got lost just looking at them…well, at least the two that weren't married. It made my libido misbehave quite a bit. I probably would have been in trouble there, but Ranger was sleeping on the couch. It made no sense to me. It was his bed. How many times did he tell me that he'd never give up his bed for me? Yet, there he was on the couch. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was avoiding me. Was he afraid I'd try to seduce him again? Okay…maybe he was on to something there.

This was an entirely new experience for me spending my time at Command Central. It was more like the Corporate America that I had been used to in retail, but it was still so far removed that it almost wasn't recognizable. There was a lot of whispering in that room. Piece of advice to all men…you're not good whisperers. Give it up. If they were trying to hide things from me, they were doing a lousy job. On the other hand if they were trying to hide things from each other…kudos. You're on the right track. The experience taught me that men are deaf. At least when compared to me.

As each day wore on my expression became more and more grim. The whispered bits of information were far more frightening than anything said out loud at the meetings. I guess it was because the meetings were laying things on the table. Their expressions were usually grim during those meetings, but at least you knew they were searching for solutions. The whispers didn't offer that same confidence.

As the days went by it became more and more certain that people in the Burg who might have the knowledge weren't willing to share with Ranger's men. They sure as hell weren't sharing with the cops. So the odds of them sharing information with the feds seemed so unlikely we didn't even toss the idea into the ring.

The frustration of our lack of information grew and grew. I could see their fears getting bigger and bigger. I knew there was a solution. I knew they wouldn't like it. But it still had to be done. Finally I stood up, "there's a solution that no one here has brought up."

"What is that," Brian asked.

"Let me out in the field," I said seriously.

To say that my suggestion was met with tension was putting it mildly. It seemed as though almost every man's voice in that room was raised to convince the powers that be that this was a ludicrous suggestion. No matter, I'm used to this kind of reaction. The men in that room either thought I wasn't qualified or they wanted to keep me safe from all harm. In some cases, it was both.

I let them get most of it out of their systems before I interrupted them again. "Gentlemen…look around this room. Where did most of this Intel come from? I'll tell you. It came from me and my contacts. It came from my legwork. It came from my sheer obstinate research."

They again burst forth.

I whistled and interrupted their babbling. "I am qualified. I scored perfect at the range the last ten times I went. I've done excellent in my hand to hand training…ask anyone here. My instincts have given us most of the intelligence we have. More than any of those points…people in the Burg know me and they trust me. They will tell me things that they won't tell you."

They were quiet then.

"Babe…this is not a good idea," Ranger said too, too quietly.

"It's our only choice."

"You're not doing it," he bit out darkly. His voice told me that there was no room for negotiation. It was his way or the highway. I'd been down that road with him before.

I took a deep breath, "I'm the right choice. Stop thinking about me as your friend and start realizing that I can be a valuable member of this team."

He winced when I'd used the word friend. But that's all I was. Well…maybe I was a bit of a fuck buddy. Remind me to put that on my resume.

Brian shook his head, "I'm with Mr. Manoso on this one. You are our senior analyst at this point. If you go down…what happens to our intelligence?"

I shook my head, "why are you guys making this so difficult? I want you to think about this. If any man in this room had the same qualifications, you'd be all over the idea. It's because it's me…a woman."

"Don't be ridiculous," Joe bit out.

"Then it's because it's me," I said seriously. "I can't believe that you would risk jeopardizing our entire case because you have the warm fuzzies where I'm concerned. That's insane. Either I am a member of this team or I'm not. You decide." I gathered my things and walked to the door. "If you decide that I'm not a member of this team, let me know and I'll pack my belongings and return to my home. Your call gentlemen," I went through the door quietly. I could hear no sound as I walked toward the elevator and the seventh floor. I was stepping on board before I heard a voice raised in anger.

I knew what the result was going to be. It was the same as it would always be. I would forever be the same old dumb Stephanie that rolled in garbage. I wasn't a real member of the team and I never would be because they didn't respect me. I started packing my things and carried my suitcase and Rex down to my car. I went back inside and sat down on Ranger's leather sofa. Before I did anything rash, I needed to hear what the final decision was going to be. I wasn't really optimistic.

It was hours before he came upstairs. When he did come up, it was obvious that he was looking for me.

"Babe," he dropped to the couch beside me.

"Ranger," I said softly.

"This isn't a good idea," he said grimly.

"Am I a member of the team or not?"

"That's beside the point," he said softly.

"No…it's not. If I'm a member of the team then you know as a team leader that I've got the resources to do this. If I'm just Stephanie…"

"You're not just anything," he said tiredly. "And it's still no."

"Ranger…you can't do this. If we hadn't slept together…"

"That has nothing to do with it," he frowned.

"The hell it doesn't. You know I love you. You feel obligated to protect me. I appreciate your chivalry, but in this case it's misplaced."

"You're not going," he said so quietly it was scary. "I'm going to take a shower. We'll talk about it later."

I sat there until I was sure he was in the shower and then I got up and left. I got into my car and drove out of the parking garage. I left the safety and security of the Rangeman building and no one tried to stop me. For some reason this time, unlike all other times, they didn't think I'd try to leave. I don't know why. I'm still me.

I stopped by the grocery store then drove home. I carried my suitcase and Rex into the house. I put Rex on the table by the window. It was his favorite spot in the house. I dropped some food into his cage and headed for my bedroom.

I had just put the suitcase on the bed when I felt something wasn't right in the room. I lifted my head and swallowed. I could see his legs in the darkened room just as I'd seen Ranger's legs so many nights ago.

"Hello Stephanie," he said quietly.

On the plus side, I'd found Manuel.


	16. Chapter 16

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

_I had just put the suitcase on the bed when I felt something wasn't right in the room. I lifted my head and swallowed. I could see his legs in the darkened room just as I'd seen Ranger's legs so many nights ago. _

"_Hello Stephanie," he said quietly._

_On the plus side, I'd found Manuel._

"Hello Manuel," I said with far more bravado than I really felt.

"I was beginning to think you were avoiding me?" He was sitting in the chair with his snub nose revolver aimed at me as though he didn't have a care in the world.

"Me…no," I sighed and sank to the edge of the bed. "I've had some personal things going on. "

"Personal things," he raised a brow.

"Man trouble," I sighed. "You know some guys just don't like to commit."

"That is true. But in his defense, his life probably doesn't lend itself to commitments. I mean it's hard to bring someone in your life and put them at risk."

"God…if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that load of crap," I shook my head.

"It's true Stephanie," he said earnestly.

"You did it," I met his eyes. "You married Michelle. You can't tell me that your life shouldn't lend itself to commitments."

"Yea," he smiled. "I did it. I'm afraid that Michelle has paid the price for my lack of reticence."

"What do you mean?"

"She's stuck in the middle, you know? She's from a family that has old traditional values. I'm more a twenty-first century kind of guy."

"Ah," I nodded.

"And of course, work often interferes in our lives. She has to get out of town and lie low on a regular basis. It's a pain in the ass and I miss her when she's gone."

"It's a small price to pay for her safety though, right?"

"Absolutely," he agreed.

"Right now…things are just fucked up," I sighed.

"No kidding," he nodded.

"And me and my friends are having a hard time figuring a way out of it."

"Me too," he nodded enthusiastically.

"Why are you having a hard time?"

"Well…there's a war coming Stephanie."

I sighed, "I suspected as much."

"Do you have my bounty this time?"

"Oh heck no," I shook my head adamantly. "You're way out of my league. The last time was a quirk. You're wanted on a Federal warrant this time. I don't have those kinds of ties. Hell, if Angelo hadn't asked Vinnie to bail you out last time I wouldn't have had that one."

I saw shock register on his face and knew he'd just learned something new.

"Are you surprised that your grandfather-in-law would want you bailed out," I said curiously.

"No," he took a deep steadying breath. "I know he would do something if I was in trouble."

"Then why are you surprised?"

"It's just that I thought my hearing was the next day. Michelle thought my hearing was the next day. Her grandfather obviously knew better. I would have turned myself in if I'd known that I was late. He knew and kept the information to himself."

"That's not good."

"No chica, it's not good," he agreed.

"Here's the thing Manuel," I leaned forward and met his gaze with my own very earnest one. "You married Michelle for love…yes?"

"Yes," He nodded with a faint smile.

"I think your marriage was arranged by Don Angelo in order to combine the two families into one."

"We are one," he frowned.

"I think the Don wanted to get involved with drug trafficking."

"Now Stephanie…"

"Look Manuel," I interrupted, "we can pretend we don't know how you make money if you want. For the sake of argument, let's pretend that you actually deal in horse sales."

"Horse sales," he nodded with a smile. "That works for me."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, so let's say that the Don has always been a cattle trader, but the cattle market is low right now. There's an influx of cattle in the marketplace and the price of beef has dropped considerably. Or even better, people are becoming vegetarians left and right…you know what I mean."

"Yea, I myself have given up everything but fish…except for Big Macs. I love the Big Mac," he sighed.

"Right," I shook my head. "Anyway, now he has to find a new way to make money and maintain his standard of living…not to mention his power in the community."

He nodded in understanding.

"So he sees the opportunity to grow in the marketplace by expanding his business. His granddaughter gets a husband who understands his business and he gets a toehold in the horse market. When they marry the new grandson-in-law…that's you…doesn't really want to move to the other side of the country to run his business. He's comfortable on the west coast. He knows his market and his competition there. He likes the weather. He's also not interested in marketing a share of his business to someone else. He likes to keep things close to the vest. The Don is infuriated. He wants…needs to expand. He knows that horse sales are the wave of the future. He sees that the economy is in a slump, gas prices are climbing and people are going to be looking for an alternate mode of transportation."

"No shit…I paid 4.00 a gallon yesterday."

"It's ridiculous isn't it," I shook my head.

"It took over 130 to fill my tank."

"That's just insane," I sighed.

"Anyway…back to what you were saying," he raised a brow.

"Right," I nodded. "So the Don also knows that the traditional families in the area will frown on him adding horse sales to his business. So the thing he has to do is find a toehold in the local market and find a way to blame a third party."

"Okay," he nodded. "I see where you're going with this."

"So he sees an opportunity to get revenge for your lack of cooperation. He sees a way to get his granddaughter back into the fold of the family. He sees a way to eliminate you from the picture entirely. He knows you're going to be in town for Michelle's sister's wedding, so he arranges a hit on Giordano knowing that his guys would implicate you and who would believe that the old Don would want to deal in drug trafficking…I mean horse sales anyway. You go down for Giordano and Michelle comes home bringing your horse sales business with her. And the only thing standing in the way of that working is…"

"Ramon," he said tightly. He was beginning to see the big picture.

"Right," I nodded. "Now granted Ramon was going to do some hard time for the murder of the generals so I would have thought it would have made him less a target. But apparently the Don didn't feel that way…so I believe he had him eliminated. I'm guessing you blamed me and that's why Ranger and I spent some time bonding at the new Prudential Building."

"You had fun, admit it," he grinned.

"It didn't suck totally," I smiled.

"I aim to please."

"You're not really a bad guy are you Manuel?"

"Not really," he agreed. "I am vastly misunderstood."

"So…your problem isn't really with me, it's with the Don if I'm right."

He sat back in the chair and the gun rested on his knee. "That brings me more problems than killing you."

"I know. It's probably going to piss Michelle off."

"You're right about that. She has such a hot temper," his lip curled with a satisfied smile. He obviously thought that was hot.

"Manuel…everyone is looking for you. If we can find away to prove that the Don is behind Giordano's attempted murder it's going to take the family heat off of you in Trenton. That means all they've got on you is failing to appear. That's not really that much. I know people in Trenton and I can help you solve this problem."

"You would do that for me," he raised a brow, "after what I did to you."

"Hey," I shrugged, "I told you it wasn't that bad."

He sat forward, "what do we need to do?"

"Can I make a phone call? You can listen in. I promise not to let anyone know that you're here."

He followed me to get another cordless phone and I called Connie.

"Hey girl," I said cheerfully, "what's up?"

"Vinnie's on a tear," she sighed. "Lula didn't show up for work because of the whole Forturo thing and he's furious. He had to go apprehend someone himself."

"Sucks to be him," I laughed.

"Sucks to me too when he's being a pain in my ass," she sighed.

"He'll get over it," I rolled my eyes. "Listen…how about some information?"

"Sure," she said happily, "what do you need?"

"I need to know what you've heard around the dinner table about Don Angelo lately," I said seriously.

"Oh my God," she laughed. "You wouldn't believe it. Papa says that the word around the poker table is that Don Angelo set Manuel Forturo up for the Giordano hit."

"No shit," I gave Manuel the thumbs up.

"Oh hell yea," she said enthusiastically. "They're saying the Don wants to get into Manuel's business."

"Fuck me," I said in feigned surprise.

"There's no proof," she said quietly, "but that's what Papa heard. He and the other Dons are really worried that Don Angelo is going to bring a war to Trenton…and over drugs too," she said in shock. "You know how the family feels about drugs."

"Yea I know."

"But he's more worried about the drugs. I don't know, it's the twenty-first century. Shouldn't drug wars or mob wars be a thing of the past."

"Maybe, but Papa could be right," I said thoughtfully. "I mean…if Manuel found out…"

"Oh shit," she groaned.

"The other Dons need to get the evidence against Don Angelo and get him turned in."

"They can't…they have to follow the code."

"If they follow the code, a war is going to rain down on Trenton the likes of which they've never imagined."

"You already figured this out, didn't you Stephanie?"

"Yea…and if I did…"

"Oh shit," she groaned. "I'll call Papa and I'll call you back."

"One more thing Connie…"

"Yea," she said.

"I know their first instinct is take care of the problem internally, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. If they police it themselves, I'm not sure it will do any good in the long run…war wise I mean."

"Crap," she sighed.

"What," I frowned.

"It may be too late," she sighed.

"Are they talking about dealing with it today?"

"Maybe," she groaned.

"I hope not," I sighed and hung up the phone.

"Why don't we want them to handle it themselves," Manuel asked with a frown. "I mean if they handle it Michelle can't be mad at me."

"Because it won't get you off the hook for the Giordano hit," I said biting my lip thoughtfully. "We have to get out of here Manuel."

"Why?"

"Because when Ranger figures out that I've left Rangeman, he's coming after me. And he'll find you. Not to mention that the Feds are probably going to be with him or nearby and TPD. We need to go now."

"Right," he agreed reaching for the gun he left laying on the chair. "Why are you helping me?"

"Let's just say that I have a feeling that there's more to the story than I've figured out. There's something nagging me in the back of my head."

"What is nagging you?"

"I'll tell you when I figure it out," I sighed.

Rather than take my very recognizable SUV we dropped it off at my parents house and borrowed my sister's new Minivan left parked in my parent's driveway.

"I can't believe they let Val get away with buying a **Nissan Quest** and they give me hell when I end up driving a **Kia** for a couple of months."

"You should buy American Stephanie," Manuel said from the backseat. "It supports the economy."

"Thanks Dad," I rolled my eyes and pulled into the McDonald's drive thru. I ordered us some food and we headed back out. "Do you have any idea where we should go?"

"One," he said biting into his Big Mac, "head to Point Pleasant. I have a beach house there that I'm pretty sure the feds haven't found yet."

Okay, so most people would be thinking that I was a moron about now. I'm heading off to points unknown with a man who has admitted he wants to murder me. That doesn't seem like the brightest thing for me to do. But…I know that Ranger has me GPS'd ninety-one ways to Sunday. There are probably things in my bag or on my person that have me tracked that I wouldn't even guess could be tracking devices. More than that, I'm hoping that Ranger and the Merry Men as well as the municipal and federal do-gooders will have sense enough to know that I do have a clue…sometimes. I want everyone involved in this fiasco to pay for what they actually did. But I wasn't sure that everyone would see things my way.

* * *

The house in Point Pleasant was on the beach in a secluded area. When the house came into view I gasped. "And you don't come here often?"

"No," he shrugged, "business keeps me away. Michelle loves the place. She comes whenever she has the chance."

"I can see why. It's gorgeous."

"Thanks," he shrugged as the Minivan came to a halt in the driveway. "Stay here, I'll make sure the coast is clear."

"Shouldn't I do that," I raised a brow at him in the mirror.

"My men will shoot you and not me," he laughed.

"You have a point," I waved him away, "you check, I'll stay here."

He grinned and left the car and headed into the house. A few seconds later he came back to the door and waved me in.

"The house is amazing," I managed after doing a quick tour of the first floor. "How much did you pay?"

"Three million I think," he said as he sat down to log onto the computer in the den.

"Worth every penny," I sighed. I reached in my purse for my ringing phone and saw the number for the bond's office. "Hey Connie…do you have news?"

"Big time," she was bubbling over with excitement. "I told Papa what you said and he totally agreed. He and the other Dons descended on Don Angelo and he confessed everything to them. Papa said it was like candy from a baby."

"I'm glad to hear that," I smiled.

"Joe Morelli was with them…you know his family is connected on his father's side."

"Yea," I rolled my eyes.

"He went down without a fight. Supposedly they're dropping the charges against Manuel for the conspiracy against Giordano, but Angelo denies he had anything to do with Ramon."

"What," I blinked.

"He said he didn't do Ramon," she repeated.

I frowned, "did he say who did it?"

"No," she said softly, "but Papa said that he was white as a sheet when they talked about it. He thinks it's someone else in the family."

"Papa does or Angelo does," I asked.

"Both," she said. She sighed heavily, "crap! I have to go. Vinnie just walked in."

"Thanks Connie. Let me know if you hear anything else."

"Sure thing baby," she said cheerfully.

"News," Manuel raised a brow at me.

"Big news," I nodded happily. "Angelo confessed to putting the hit on Giordano. The charges will be dropped on you for that charge. You'll probably get a slap on the wrist for the FTA. I'd wait till the charges are officially dropped before heading in though."

"No shit," he nodded. "Is that all?"

"No…apparently the Don isn't admitting to Ramon."

"Do they think it was random?"

"No…the other Dons think Angelo knows who ordered the hit but isn't talking. They said he got real quiet."

He sat for a moment just gazing out the window at the crashing waves and I saw his face turn grey.

"What's wrong Manuel?"

"I think I know who ordered the hit on Ramon," he said and a dazed expression dropped over his face.

"Who," I asked perching on his desk.

"Well, me of course," Michelle said from the doorway with an evil glint in her eye and a gun aimed at each of us.


	17. Chapter 17

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

* * *

"_I think I know who ordered the hit on Ramon," he said and a dazed expression dropped over his face._

"_Who," I asked perching on his desk._

"_Well, me of course," Michelle said from the doorway with an evil glint in her eye and a gun aimed at each of us._

"Baby," he shook his head woefully and I could see that he was about to cry, "Why would you do this?"

"He was bad news honey," she said so sweetly that I knew I'd vomited in my mouth…just a little bit.

"How was he bad news? He was my brother?"

"He was keeping us apart," she said with wide doe eyes.

"How was he keeping us apart?"

"He was keeping you from spreading to Trenton. I don't see my family enough sweetie. I need to be closer to home."

"I thought I was your home," he said seriously.

"Oh honey…you know I love you, but this is business," she shook her head sadly.

"Michelle, everything I have is yours anyway. If you had just told me how important it was to you I could have worked something out."

"My grandfather needs to keep his respectability."

"How is he going to do that now?"

"Do you know that they took my Grandfather to jail," she raised a brow at him.

"So I've heard. If you'd talked to me about this, we could have worked something out. But no…you know our marriage counselor said that we needed to work on communicating. This is why. You just assumed that I wouldn't be willing to work with your grandfather."

"Would you have been willing?"

"I don't know Baby. He never talked to me about it. There's this thing called respect."

"He's an old man…you should respect him," she said hotly.

"I do respect him…or rather I did before he tried to send me to prison."

"He just wanted the families to work together."

"And when did he tell me that? When did you tell me that? I don't read minds. Do you remember what the marriage counselor said about that?"

"Baby…you need to use your inside voice," she said shaking her gun at him. "You know I can't hear you when you yell."

He took a deep steadying breath, "do you want me to get Dr. Fairview on the line?"

"Do you really think now is the time?"

"I think anything that keeps you from putting a bullet through my head is a good thing."

She shook her head giving him a classic Burg eye roll, "he was a quack. He always took your side and then he tried to get me to sleep with him."

"I'll kill the motherfucker," he growled.

"Oh Baby," she sighed. "You're so sweet. You do love me."

"Of course I love you," he groaned. "That is why I would have done what you asked…if you asked. I'm telling you communication is a two way street. If you had done the exercises with me instead of leaving me to do them with Ramon you'd know it for certain."

"Ramon! Ramon! Ramon," she rolled her eyes heavenward and waved her guns about. "That's the reason I let my Grandfather be first in my life. Everything was about Ramon. Ramon is staying for dinner," she said mimicking Manuel's accent. "Did you ever ask me if we had enough for Ramon to stay? No. You just made an assumption that I wanted Ramon to stay. Did it ever occur to you that I'd like a little time alone with my husband? No!" She mimicked him again, "Ramon is going with us to the mall. Ramon is going with us to Hawaii. Ramon is going with us to Europe. Ramon is going with us to dinner." She glared at her husband, "Every moment of every day he was under my feet and interfering with my marriage. He even went on our fucking honeymoon. I can't even begin to tell you what my therapist said about that one. You'd be so ashamed," she raised a brow as if to dare him to argue. "Fuck yea I wanted him dead. I'd have killed him long ago if I wasn't afraid you'd get mad at me."

"Oh Baby," he sighed. "We could have talked this out."

"How? Every time I suggested we do anything, you invited him along."

"Did you tell me that it bothered you?"

"You should have known," she glared.

"I don't read minds. Communication, communication, communication," he sighed. "That's the reason we have problems."

"We have problems because you're an ass."

"Honey…remember to use good words."

"You're a fucking ass," she glared.

"We could have compromised," he said sadly.

"And now my Grandfather is going to jail," she glared at him. "He's been there for me my whole life. This is how you repay him!"

"I didn't repay him. He's paying his debt to society. He needs to be glad that the hit wasn't successful or he'd be in even more trouble."

"And you have no sympathy for him at all," she pouted.

"He put a contract out on Giordano in my name Baby," he said seriously. "What did you want from me?"

"They couldn't have proven it."

"Somebody obviously could," Manuel reminded her. "And he sang like a bird when he was confronted."

"They put pressure on him," she pouted.

"The Dons here in Trenton aren't happy with your Grandfather."

"The Dons," she spat, "wouldn't know their asses from a hole in the ground. If someone…," she waved the gun at me, "had not put the idea into their little pea brains…nobody would have ever guessed."

"They already knew," he said seriously.

"How?"

"Apparently they're not as stupid as you think they are."

"Impossible," she rolled her eyes.

"If Stephanie had not convinced them to let the police handle it, he'd be dead."

"He'd rather be wearing cement overshoes than go to jail. There's some respect in that at least."

"How much respect is there in being dead? And you'd have no closure and no place to mourn him."

"Harrumph," she grunted.

He raised a brow, "Does Stivas even do funerals without a corpse."

"Oh yea," I nodded. "They are under new ownership now."

"Oh that's right, it burned down and the owner was killed," he nodded.

I winced.

"It would be better than jail. He almost died when he was in jail for tax evasion."

"Of what?"

"Boredom," she spat. "He's an old man. He needs to busy. He needs his freedom."

"He wanted me in jail."

"It's a small thing," she shrugged.

"You have no problem letting him frame me?"

"Its business Baby," she raised her hands in regret.

"The therapist said that we shouldn't mix business with our marriage remember?"

"The therapist was a horny bastard," she raised a brow.

"Oh yea," he sighed.

"Besides, he thought it was necessary."

"I would have gone to prison for a long time," he reminded her.

"Not for long darling," she said seductively. "Just long enough to transfer power to me and then…"

"And then what," he said as his eyes narrowed on her.

She shrugged with a small wince, "it's nothing personal."

"Personal," he barked at her incredulously. "You were going to let them kill me."

"I had a tough choice to make sweetie," she pouted. "I did what I had to do."

"Bullshit," he growled.

"Oh come on," she sighed. "Don't be like that."

"Baby…you're about to put a bullet in my head. How would you like me to be?"

"Well," she sighed, "I'd like for you to be happy to see me."

"I'd be happier to see you if you didn't have a gun pointed at me."

"You're so hard to please," she pouted.

"You guys have a tumultuous relationship," I muttered to Manuel.

"Tell me about it," he sighed.

"Is this your new girlfriend," she raised a brow at me.

He rolled his eyes heavenward.

"Oh come on Michelle," I laughed.

"Do I know you?"

"We went to high school together," I raised a brow. "I'm Stephanie Plum."

"Didn't you marry Dickie Orr," she asked with narrowed eyes.

"For about ten minutes till I found him on the dining room table with Joyce Barnhardt."

"She always was a slut," Michelle said shaking her head. "Whatever happened to her?"

"She's still spreading her legs for whoever asks," I said harshly.

"Ouch…that did hurt," she grinned.

"Yep, and that should prove to you that I'd never do that to another woman."

"Oh yea…we had economics and world history together," Michelle straightened as she remembered.

"And French," I reminded her.

"Bon Jour," she laughed.

"Commet allez vous?"

"Je vais bien," she shrugged.

"Bon," I nodded.

"So you're not sleeping with my husband?"

"No," I shook my head. "Although I do believe he's far too nice to kill, I wouldn't sleep with him. I have enough man trouble of my own."

"Really," she sank down onto the nearby ottoman and cocked a brow at me. "What's up?"

"Remember Joe Morelli?"

"Oh God yes," she groaned. "He had such a great ass."

"He still does," I nodded. "We were on and off for a couple of years. He wanted me to change…you know the whole barefoot and pregnant routine."

"This one too," she rolled her eyes and waved the gun at Manuel.

I rolled my eyes back, "and three weeks after we broke up the last time he married Terri Gilman."

"Oh my God," she said wide-eyed. "She's a skank."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"What else?"

"Then there's this guy who used to be a ranger," I sighed.

"Is he hot?"

"Mouth watering, panty ruining hot," I sighed.

"Damn," she groaned. "What's wrong with him?"

"He has commitment issues," I sighed. "He says his life isn't conducive to relationships."

"What a cop out," she shook her head.

"I know…right," I sighed. "And now there's this new guy. Oh my God, he is so hot. Do you ever watch **HGTV**?"

"Oh hell yea," she nodded. "I love House Hunters."

"Me too, but his guy…Brian, he looks like Carter Oosterhouse."

"From **Carter Can**," she said wide-eyed.

"Right," I nodded.

"He is hot."

"Imagine him with blue eyes."

"Yow," she waved a hand as though it burned.

"You know I'm right here," Manuel sighed.

"Sorry Baby…you know you're hot," she said sweetly. She turned back to him, "so what about this guy?"

"Oh you know. He's a federal agent. He travels a lot. When would we ever have time to get to know each other?"

"That sucks."

"Yea," I sighed. I saw the shadow pass under the window and knew that the GPS had done its work. If it hadn't, then it was Manuel's men. That would still be good for me, not so good for Michelle. I was pretty sure it was Ranger. I forced myself to focus on the conversation at hand. "But he's cute and he really seems to like me."

"Then what would it hurt to get to know him? I mean he could be the one."

"True," I nodded thoughtfully.

"Ladies…I don't mean to interrupt this scintillating conversation, but is it possible we could get back to the topic at hand."

"Fine," Michelle rolled her eyes.

"Okay," I glanced over at Michelle, "oh and I love your shoes." I saw more shadows outside the room in the house and forced my attention back to Michelle.

"I got them on sale at Macy's. They're having a half price sale this week."

"Really," I said wide-eyed.

"You really need to get over there."

"Oh hell yea," I nodded.

"Stephanie," Manuel sighed.

"Oh yea, sorry Manuel," I straightened.

"You know I really hate to do this," she got to her feet.

"Then don't," I said seriously. "Honest to God, how is your mother going to react. My mother had a hissy fit when Joe and I split up every single time. Do you have any idea what yours is going to do? They need to see their daughters married. It's like they fail us if we aren't married and pregnant."

"Yea, what is up with that," she regarded me thoughtfully.

"It's insane," I sighed.

"That's it," Manuel grunted and shoved me toward Michelle. Instead of knocking her over, she just kept the gun on him and a small knife on me.

"Baby…why'd you do that," she sighed. "You made me break a heel on my new shoes."

"Oh damn," I tried to look down and see. "Ranger once made me throw Jimmy Choo's off an I-beam three stories up."

"Jimmy Choo," she said aghast.

"Men just don't understand," I said sadly.

"Jimmy Choo is a shoe god," she sighed.

"I know," I agreed.

"She has a knife to your throat," Manuel said calmly.

"I am aware of that," I said with a sigh.

"Look…I would only be here to kill him, but you showed up. Now I have to kill you. My mother is not going to like that. Doesn't my mother play bridge with your mother?"

"They used to," I agreed. "Ever since I started working as a bounty hunters she's sort of dropped her extracurricular activities."

"What does she do instead?"

"Drink mostly," I shrugged.

She grimaced, "that's not good. Is my mom going to do that?"

"At least," I agreed.

"She's not going to make me cannoli for a decade."

We sighed deeply together.

She sighed, "I'm not good with blood."

"Me either," I sighed.

She pushed the knife into my neck. I could feel the blood as it began to flow. This wasn't good. This really wasn't good. She pushed me to the floor and trained her gun on Manuel. "Baby…you know I love you, but this is family."

He sighed.

I raised my hand to look at the blood and felt everything start to go dark. "Don't do it," I whispered and the world went black.

* * *

_Bon __Jour_ - Good day

_Commet allez vous?_– How are you?

_Je __vais__bien_- I am fine

_Bon_ - good


	18. Chapter 18

I do not own any characters excepting the villains and a few peripheral characters. Janet Evanovich's brilliant mind conjured the main characters up. She graciously allows us to borrow them. I am receiving no monetary or other compensation except for the joy of telling a story.

Special thanks to everyone for their great reviews. Sometimes the story writes itself. This was one of those times. You guys really know how to make a chick feel good. Thank you again. Deborah

* * *

Ranger slid along the wall. He could hear the women talking. For God's sake they were talking about shoes. He rolled his eyes. Oh God, they were talking about **those** shoes. Those shoes were hot, but they cost 1200.00. They weren't that hot. It was a fucking pair of shoes. He bought her another pair. She really needed to let that go.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see everyone else getting into place. He could see Tank and Lester covering the back entrance. Agent Goodman was on the other side of the door from him with his gun drawn. She thinks he looks like Carter Oosterhouse? He rolled his eyes. She needs glasses. He didn't really like any of the conversation about Agent Goodman. He was a **good** and royal pain in his ass, that's what he was. Of course, **he** thought it was greeaaat. Ranger caught himself rolling his eyes again and fought a smile. Steph was sure growing on him. Goodman grinned like a Cheshire cat when she said he was hot. And I don't have commitment issues, he thought. He rolled his eyes again. He just wanted her safe.

The conversation changed and he heard the scuffling of feet and risked a peek inside. Michelle had a knife to Steph's throat. He felt his heart in his throat. How could she have handled this all so perfectly and still ended up in this situation? Easy when you're living in the Black hole of sanity. He sighed. He raised his hand and motioned everyone closer. It was time to move in and save her.

He cocked his head to hear them.

"I'm not good with blood," Michelle sighed.

"Me either," Stephanie said.

He heard the knife hit the floor and he heard a body seconds after it with gurgling and everything went black for him. He charged into the room screaming. He didn't even realize that the stealth mission was blown the minute he moved. He knocked Michelle down vaguely aware of all the men converging on the property and the room.

"Babe," he picked her up holding her against him. "Babe," he said desperately. "I need you to hear me. Babe, can you hear me?"

Bobby knelt beside him, "put her down Ranger."

"Oh God," he groaned.

"Put her down so I can work on her," Bobby said gently.

Tank pulled at him, "man…you have to let him save her."

Ranger jerked out of his jacket and put it on the floor and lowered her. "Don't let her die."

"You love her that much and you won't commit," Michelle shook her head. "You really are an ass."

"Get her the fuck out of here," Ranger growled. He could hear sirens in the distance.

"You really need to work on your communication skills Baby," Manuel shook his head at Michelle as they dragged her out the door.

"I'll do that from solitary," she said and made a kissy face at him just as she disappeared.

"I'm sorry," Manuel said tiredly as they stopped beside Ranger, Bobby and Stephanie on the way out the door. "She seems like a very good person."

Ranger didn't raise his head to look at him.

"She really was amazing," Manuel said softly as Agent Stinger led him out of the house.

Brian stood next to Ranger with his arms crossed and watched Bobby work.

When the EMTs arrived Bobby was putting pressure on the wound. He didn't look up at Ranger. It looked bad. But with wounds like this one, it could go either way. Hopefully the bitch hadn't hit the artery.

They loaded her into the ambulance and Ranger climbed on board with them giving the EMT a quelling look when he opened his mouth to ask him to leave.

Tank, Bobby, Lester, Hal and Brian stood in the driveway watching the ambulance speed away.

"How bad is it," Lester said solemnly to Bobby.

"Looks bad," Bobby said tightly as his jaw worked. "I'm not sure she'd have made it in the field. But there's a good hospital nearby."

"How good," Brian said tightly.

"Hopefully good enough," Bobby said soberly.

* * *

I groaned and sighed. I could hear the beeping of the monitors. I was alive. Surely they didn't have monitors in heaven. I sure hoped this wasn't hell. That would be annoying for eternity.

"You're awake Babe," Ranger asked softly.

I turned my head slightly and winced.

"Keep still," he leaned over me. "You'll tear the stitches."

"I have stitches in my neck," I sighed reached up to touch the bandage. "I can never wear another halter top."

"That's what you're worried about?"

"I _was_ worried about being in hell," I sighed.

He smiled, "you're not in hell. You're in the hospital. You're even near the beach."

"I can pretend I'm on vacation."

"And don't worry about the scar...there won't be one."

"Good," I sighed.

He waited a beat. "You shouldn't have left Rangeman."

"If I hadn't left Rangeman, we'd have a war," I said softly.

He sighed. "Remember what we talked about? You said you would always wait for backup."

"I knew you'd find me," I said sleepily. "You've got GPS devices all over me. They're probably in my underwear."

"Babe…your underwear is too small to put any device in it but you," he smiled.

A smile tilted the corner of my mouth, "I've never heard you complain."

"You never will," he said softly and settled back down to keep watch.

* * *

It was days before I was finally allowed to go home. I went home to my nice clean house. My mother had stocked my refrigerator with good things to eat. Ranger had gone in afterwards and put in some things that were healthy for me. It was all good. There was even a pineapple upside down cake and a lemon cake. My mother had obviously forgiven me for getting into the paper again. The house was filled with flowers, candy, tasty pastries and Ben & Jerry's. It wasn't a bad place to be.

Every single employee of Rangeman had been by the house to check on me…all except Ranger. When I'd woken up last in the hospital Lester told me that Ranger was in the wind. I could only sigh. It was such a cop out.

Lula and Tank finally decided on a cake...or cakes. They were going to have a devils food grooms cake with chocolate truffle frosting. Lula wanted a lemon bride's cake with cream cheese frosting. She was more concerned about finding the little bride and groom to go on top of the cake. She said none of the one's she'd found did her and Tank justice. She thought she'd have to commission one. I thought she was probably right.

The surgeon reassured me that I wouldn't even have a scar later. She said that Michelle had really more stabbed straight in than sliced. She assured me that I had been very lucky. I believed her. She said that Rangeman made sure I had excellent care and no expense had been spared. I would have thanked him if he hadn't been in the wind.

Manuel was turning state's evidence. He said he was looking forward to moving somewhere sunny and giving up the grind of day to day business. He didn't think he'd wait for Michelle. He was discussing it with his therapist.

Home was so sane after all that I'd been through. For a few days I just wallowed in my bed and was grateful that I had made it home.

I finally got all that Lula was saying about Feng Shui. I thought the house was pretty Feng Shui for me. I mean maybe it wasn't traditional Feng Shui, but then I wasn't a typical chick. I even went out and bought Rex and Hamster McMansion to take the place of his old cage which was now relegated to being his travelling cage. I'm not sure he was impressed by his new digs, but the wheel didn't squeak so I liked it.

Being home alone most of the time gave me plenty of time to think about the new Stephanie and which direction her life was going. At home in the quiet of my house with no squeaky wheel to interrupt my thoughts I could hear my biological clock ticking like a veritable time bomb. I imagined little babies with Ranger's eyes and his skin. As the days went by I started thinking that maybe Ranger was just telling me that his life didn't lend itself to relationships so he didn't have to tell me that he really didn't want to spend his life with me. I still loved him. Maybe his own way just wasn't the way I needed. Or maybe someday was going to come some day. I didn't know. I wasn't sure I could wait. It made me sad. It also made Agent Brian Goodman look better. He looked like the kind of guy who wasn't afraid of commitment. He looked like he'd be able to provide me with a couple of healthy babies. Maybe Michelle was right and I should give the guy a chance. Surely one thing she said had to be sane.

Finally after a week of being pampered by everyone in the Berg, Brian stopped by.

"Hi," I smiled letting him in. "How are you? Are you getting the case all wrapped up?"

"I am," he nodded following me into the family room. "This is a nice house."

"Thanks," I smiled. "Can I get you anything? The larder is full."

"No thanks. I wanted to let you know that we've transferred Michelle to a federal prison to await trial. Manuel is going to testify against her."

"So I heard," I nodded.

"Have you heard from Manuel?"

"Yea," I smiled. "He came by. He's giving up his career and going somewhere warm to live out his golden years."

"The dudes like thirty-five," Brian shook his head.

"Yea…he's a cool guy. He asked me if I wanted to go with him."

"Did he," he raised a brow.

"He did," I nodded.

"Like as a wife or something?"

I laughed, "he didn't specifiy and I didn't ask."

"Wow," he took a deep steadying breath.

"I like him. He needs more therapy though."

Brian laughed. "If I was married to Michelle, I'd need therapy."

"Amen," I agreed.

"You know you're getting a federal commendation to go with the one you got from the Mayor of Trenton?"

"Really," I beamed at him. "How cool is that? That should keep me in Pineapple Upside Down cake for life."

He laughed, "Are you back on sugar?"

"I pretty much have to be," I sighed.

"What," he frowned.

"Nothing," I blushed.

"So Stephanie," he said moving to sit on the coffee table in front of me and taking my hand in his. "I know there's a lot going on in your life. I know you've got a lot of things to figure out."

"True," I agreed.

"But maybe when things have cooled down a bit, you and I can go out to dinner together. I don't mean on business," he said meeting my eyes. "I mean a date. I will be here quite a bit for Michelle's trial."

"Oh," I blinked at him.

"I mean I will be here off and on before that too, I just…," he broke off blushing in embarrassment and ran his hand through his hair. "I just like you and I want to get to know you better."

He was so different from Ranger and Joe. He was so good-looking and yet he lacked their confidence. It didn't make sense to me. Perhaps that kind of confidence is something that men are born with. But Brian's lack of confidence was endearing. "Okay," I said with a small smile. "We can have dinner."

"Great," he leaned forward and kissed my cheek before getting to his feet. "Now, I have to go. I'm on my way to Washington. But I'll call you?"

"I'd like that," I smiled following him to the door. I watched him walk to the Crown Vic.

"I'm glad you decided to take Michelle's advice even though she's a lunatic," he grinned before disappearing into the car.

I frowned then burst out laughing even as the blush stole up my neck to my face. I was glad too.

**The end**

* * *

_If you enjoyed this story I hope you'll like the series I'm working on. The next story is called __**Scandalously Sizzling Sixteen**__. It won't be in the stores near you, but I'm hoping you'll enjoy it._

_The plot?_

_What happens when a lingerie company to rival __**Victoria's Secret**__, but more closely resembling __**Fredericks of Hollywood**__ relocates to Trenton? Murder and mayhem ensue, of course. Rangeman is hired to protect the surviving sexy lingerie models and keep them from the fate of their predecessors. I'm worried that Stephanie may roll her eyes right out of her head._

Thanks to everyone for reading Formerly Feckless Fifteen.


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